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Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering,...
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Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing

A special issue of Nanomaterials (ISSN 2079-4991).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2020) | Viewed by 28689

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Evan K. Wujcik

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
2. Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA
3. Alabama Water Institute, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0203, USA
Interests: nanofibers; electrospinning; polymers; nanosensors; composites; advanced nanomaterials

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,                

The utilization of nanofibers in technologies for a wide array of applications continues to represent both an important area of fundamental academic interest and commercial research. We invite authors to contribute original research articles or comprehensive review articles covering the most recent progress and new developments in the design and utilization of nanofibers for novel devices and fundamental studies relevant to applications in energy, biomedical engineering, environmental engineering, and sensing. This Special Issue aims to cover a broad range of subjects, from nanofiber synthesis to the design and characterization of nanofiber devices and technologies for a number of applications. The format of welcomed articles includes full papers, communications, and reviews. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Preparation and characterization of nanofibers;
  • Novel methodologies for alignment, patterning, and scale-up of nanofibers;
  • Techniques for the improvement of nanofiber sensing properties;
  • Nanofiber-based composites for sensing applications;
  • Nanofibers for in vitro and in vivo sensing applications;
  • Applications of nanofibers as biomaterials and biomedical sensors;
  • Natural nanofiber applications;
  • Applications of nanofibers associated with renewable energy and sustainability;
  • Theoretical investigations on the preparation or applications of nanofibers;
  • Applications of nanofibers associated with environmental remediation and detection;
  • Prospects on advances, opportunities, and challenges of nanofiber applications.

Prof. Dr. Evan K. Wujcik
Guest Editor

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nanomaterials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Nanofibers
  • Electrospinning
  • Wearable sensors
  • Textiles engineering
  • Tissue engineering
  • Nanofiber sensors
  • Energy applications
  • Environmental applications
  • Biomedical applications
  • Biomaterials

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4473 KiB  
Article
Development of Thermo-Responsive Polycaprolactone–Polydimethylsiloxane Shrinkable Nanofibre Mesh
by Chia-Hsuan Hsieh, Nur Adila Mohd Razali, Wei-Chih Lin, Zhi-Wei Yu, Dwita Istiqomah, Yohei Kotsuchibashi and Hsing-Hao Su
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(7), 1427; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10071427 - 21 Jul 2020
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5058
Abstract
A thermally activated shape memory polymer based on the mixture of polycaprolactone (PCL) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was fabricated into the nanofibre mesh using the electrospinning process. The added percentages of the PDMS segment in the PCL-based polymer influenced the mechanical properties. Polycaprolactone serves [...] Read more.
A thermally activated shape memory polymer based on the mixture of polycaprolactone (PCL) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was fabricated into the nanofibre mesh using the electrospinning process. The added percentages of the PDMS segment in the PCL-based polymer influenced the mechanical properties. Polycaprolactone serves as a switching segment to adjust the melting temperature of the shape memory electro-spun PCL–PDMS scaffolds to our body temperature at around 37 °C. Three electro-spun PCL–PDMS copolymer nanofibre samples, including PCL6–PDMS4, PCL7–PDMS3 and PCL8–PDMS2, were characterised to study the thermal and mechanical properties along with the shape memory responses. The results from the experiment showed that the PCL switching segment ratio determines the crystallinity of the copolymer nanofibres, where a higher PCL ratio results in a higher degree of crystallinity. In contrast, the results showed that the mechanical properties of the copolymer samples decreased with the PCL composition ratio. After five thermomechanical cycles, the fabricated copolymer nanofibres exhibited excellent shape memory properties with 98% shape fixity and above 100% recovery ratio. Moreover, biological experiments were applied to evaluate the biocompatibility of the fabricated PCL–PDMS nanofibre mesh. Owing to the thermally activated shape memory performance, the electro-spun PCL–PDMS fibrous mesh has a high potential for biomedical applications such as medical shrinkable tubing and wire. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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11 pages, 3595 KiB  
Article
Microstructure of Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 Nanofiber with Metal Nitrates in Electrospinning Precursor
by Kyeong-Han Na, Wan-Tae Kim, Tae-Hyeob Song, Sung-Wook Kim and Won-Youl Choi
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(7), 1344; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10071344 - 9 Jul 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2473
Abstract
Electrospun NiZn ferrite nanofibers have great potential due to their one-dimensional structure and electrical properties, but they have a low reproducibility resulting from many process confounders, so much research effort is needed to achieve optimized process control. For structure control, the viscosity of [...] Read more.
Electrospun NiZn ferrite nanofibers have great potential due to their one-dimensional structure and electrical properties, but they have a low reproducibility resulting from many process confounders, so much research effort is needed to achieve optimized process control. For structure control, the viscosity of the precursor solution is a likely parameter. One solution is to use polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) and metal nitrate to obtain the desired viscosity by increasing the nitrate content, even if the polymer content is decreased. Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 ferrite nanofiber was electrospun with various precursor conditions. Fifteen different precursor solutions, with a content of five polymers and three metal nitrates, were prepared, with precursor solutions composed of Fe(NO3)2·9H2O, Ni(NO3)2·6H2O, Zn(NO3)2·6H2O, polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and N,N-dimethylmethanamide. The fiber diameter changed from the lowest, of 62.41 nm, to 417.54 nm. This study shows that the average diameter can be controlled using the metal nitrate concentration without a difference in crystal structure when PVP is used. In a 24.0 mmol metal nitrate precursor solution, the process yield was improved to 140% after heat treatment. There was also no significant difference in the crystal structure and morphology. This system reduces the cost of raw materials for electrospinning and increases the process yield of NiZn ferrite nanofibers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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12 pages, 6019 KiB  
Article
Photocatalytic Methylene Blue Degradation of Electrospun Ti–Zn Complex Oxide Nanofibers
by Wan-Tae Kim, Kyeong-Han Na, Dong-Cheol Park, Wan-Hee Yang and Won-Youl Choi
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(7), 1311; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10071311 - 4 Jul 2020
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2714
Abstract
Photocatalysts are the most important technology in air pollution removal and the detoxification of organic materials. Doping and complexation are among the most used methods to improve the efficiency of photocatalysts. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanomaterials are widely used materials for photocatalysts [...] Read more.
Photocatalysts are the most important technology in air pollution removal and the detoxification of organic materials. Doping and complexation are among the most used methods to improve the efficiency of photocatalysts. Titanium dioxide and zinc oxide nanomaterials are widely used materials for photocatalysts and the degradation of toxic materials. Their mixed structure can be fabricated by many methods and the structure affects their properties. Nanofibers are efficient materials for photocatalysts due to their vertically formed structure, which improves the charge separation of photoelectrons. We fabricated them by an electrospinning process. A precursor consisting of titanium 4-isopropoxide, zinc acetate dihydrate and polyvinylpyrrolidone was used as a spinning solution for a mixed structure of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide with different molar ratios. They were then calcined, crystallized by heat treatment and analyzed by thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscope (EDS). After annealing, the average diameters of the Ti–Zn complex oxide nanofibers were 237.6–278.6 nm with different salt ratios, and multiple crystalline structures were observed, namely TiO2, ZnO, ZnTiO3 and Zn2TiO4. We observed the photocatalytic performance of the samples and compared them according to the photodegradation of methylene blue. The methylene blue concentration decreased to 0.008–0.650 after three hours, compared to an initial concentration of 1, with different metal oxide structures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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8 pages, 1881 KiB  
Article
PMMA-TiO2 Fibers for the Photocatalytic Degradation of Water Pollutants
by Namrata Kanth, Weiheng Xu, Umesh Prasad, Dharneedar Ravichandran, Arunachala Mada Kannan and Kenan Song
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(7), 1279; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10071279 - 30 Jun 2020
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 5337
Abstract
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a promising photocatalyst that possesses a redox potential suitable for environmental remediation applications. A low photocatalytic yield and high cost have thus far limited the commercial adoption of TiO2-based fixed-bed reactors. One solution is to [...] Read more.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a promising photocatalyst that possesses a redox potential suitable for environmental remediation applications. A low photocatalytic yield and high cost have thus far limited the commercial adoption of TiO2-based fixed-bed reactors. One solution is to engineer the physical geometry or chemical composition of the substrate to overcome these limitations. In this work, porous polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) substrates with immobilized TiO2 nanoparticles in fiber forms were fabricated and analyzed to demonstrate the influence of contaminant transport and light accessibility on the overall photocatalytic performance. The influences of (i) fiber porosity and (ii) fiber architecture on the overall photocatalytic performance were investigated. The porous structure was fabricated using wet phase inversion. The core-shell-structured fibers exhibited much higher mechanical properties than the porous fibers (7.52 GPa vs. non-testability) and maintained the same degradation rates as porous structures (0.059 vs. 0.053/min) in removing methylene blue with comparable specific surface areas. The highest methylene blue (MB) degradation rate (kMB) of 0.116 min−1 was observed due to increases of the exposed surface area, pointing to more efficient photocatalysis by optimizing core-shell dimensions. This research provides an easy-to-manufacture and cost-efficient method for producing PMMA/TiO2 core-shell fibers with a broad application in water treatment, air purification, and volatile sensors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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15 pages, 6607 KiB  
Article
Biotin-Conjugated Cellulose Nanofibers Prepared via Copper-Catalyzed Alkyne-Azide Cycloaddition (CuAAC) “Click” Chemistry
by Katarina Goodge and Margaret Frey
Nanomaterials 2020, 10(6), 1172; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano10061172 - 16 Jun 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4218
Abstract
As potential high surface area for selective capture in diagnostic or filtration devices, biotin-cellulose nanofiber membranes were fabricated to demonstrate the potential for specific and bio-orthogonal attachment of biomolecules onto nanofiber surfaces. Cellulose acetate was electrospun and substituted with alkyne groups in either [...] Read more.
As potential high surface area for selective capture in diagnostic or filtration devices, biotin-cellulose nanofiber membranes were fabricated to demonstrate the potential for specific and bio-orthogonal attachment of biomolecules onto nanofiber surfaces. Cellulose acetate was electrospun and substituted with alkyne groups in either a one- or two-step process. The alkyne reaction, confirmed by FTIR and Raman spectroscopy, was dependent on solvent ratio, time, and temperature. The two-step process maximized alkyne substitution in 10/90 volume per volume ratio (v/v) water to isopropanol at 50 °C after 6 h compared to the one-step process in 80/20 (v/v) at 50 °C after 48 h. Azide-biotin conjugate “clicked” with the alkyne-cellulose via copper-catalyzed alkyne-azide cycloaddition (CuAAC). The biotin-cellulose membranes, characterized by FTIR, SEM, Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and XPS, were used in proof-of-concept assays (HABA (4′-hydroxyazobenzene-2-carboxylic acid) colorimetric assay and fluorescently tagged streptavidin assay) where streptavidin selectively bound to the pendant biotin. The click reaction was specific to alkyne-azide coupling and dependent on pH, ratio of ascorbic acid to copper sulfate, and time. Copper (II) reduction to copper (I) was successful without ascorbic acid, increasing the viability of the click conjugation with biomolecules. The surface-available biotin was dependent on storage medium and time: Decreasing with immersion in water and increasing with storage in air. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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Graphical abstract

11 pages, 3036 KiB  
Article
Highly Sensitive Plasmonic Sensor Based on a Dual-Side Polished Photonic Crystal Fiber for Component Content Sensing Applications
by Nan Chen, Min Chang, Xuedian Zhang, Jun Zhou, Xinglian Lu and Songlin Zhuang
Nanomaterials 2019, 9(11), 1587; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9111587 - 8 Nov 2019
Cited by 56 | Viewed by 3509
Abstract
A plasmonic sensor based on a dual-side polished photonic crystal fiber operating in a telecommunication wavelength range is proposed and investigated numerically by the finite element method (FEM). We study the effects of structural parameters on the sensor’s performance and analyze their tuning [...] Read more.
A plasmonic sensor based on a dual-side polished photonic crystal fiber operating in a telecommunication wavelength range is proposed and investigated numerically by the finite element method (FEM). We study the effects of structural parameters on the sensor’s performance and analyze their tuning effects on loss spectra. As a result, two configurations are found when the analyte refractive index (RI) changes from 1.395 to 1.415. For configuration 1, an RI resolution of 9.39 × 10−6, an average wavelength sensitivity of 10,650 nm/RIU (the maximum wavelength sensitivity is 12,400 nm/RIU), an amplitude sensitivity of 252 RIU−1 and a linearity of 0.99692 are achieved. For configuration 2, the RI resolution, average wavelength sensitivity, amplitude sensitivity and linearity are 1.19 × 10−5, 8400 nm/RIU, 85 RIU−1 and 0.98246, respectively. The combination of both configurations can broaden the wavelength range for the sensing detection. Additionally, the sensor has a superior figure of merit (FOM) to a single-side polished design. The proposed sensor has a maximum wavelength sensitivity, amplitude sensitivity and RI resolution of the same order magnitude as that of existing sensors as well as higher linearity, which allows it to fulfill the requirements for modern sensing of being densely compact, amenable to integration, affordable and capable of remote sensing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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13 pages, 4419 KiB  
Article
Electrospun Bimetallic NiCr Nanoparticles@Carbon Nanofibers as an Efficient Catalyst for Hydrogen Generation from Ammonia Borane
by Robert M. Brooks, Ibrahim M. Maafa, Abdullah M. Al-Enizi, M. M. El-Halwany, Mohd Ubaidullah and Ayman Yousef
Nanomaterials 2019, 9(8), 1082; https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9081082 - 28 Jul 2019
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 4463
Abstract
In this study, we report on the fabrication and utilization of NiCr alloy nanoparticles (NPs)-decorated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as efficient and competent non-precious catalysts for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB) at 25 ± 2 °C. The introduced NFs have been fabricated [...] Read more.
In this study, we report on the fabrication and utilization of NiCr alloy nanoparticles (NPs)-decorated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as efficient and competent non-precious catalysts for the hydrolytic dehydrogenation of ammonia borane (AB) at 25 ± 2 °C. The introduced NFs have been fabricated in one step using a high-temperature thermal decomposition of the prepared electrospun nanofiber mats (nickel acetate tetrahydrate, chromium acetate dimer, and polyvinyl alcohol) in an inert atmosphere. The chemical composition of the NFs with different proportions of Ni1−xCrx (x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2, 0.25, 0.3) was established via standard characterization techniques. These techniques proved the formation of disorder Cr2Ni3 alloy and carbon for all the formulations. The as-synthesized composite NFs exhibited a higher catalytic performance for AB dehydrogenation than that of Cr-free Ni–CNFs. Among all the formulations, the sample composed of 15% Cr shows the best catalytic performance, as more H2 was released in less time. Furthermore, it shows good stability, as it is recyclable with little decline in the catalytic activity after six cycles. It also demonstrates the activation energy, entropy (ΔS), and enthalpy (ΔH) with 37.6 kJ/mole, 0.094 kJ/mole, and 35.03 kJ/mole, respectively. Accordingly, the introduced catalyst has a lower price with higher performance encouraging a practical sustainable H2 energy application from the chemical hydrogen storage materials. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanofibers and Their Applications in Energy, Biomedical Engineering, Environmental Engineering, and Sensing)
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