electrospun

Electrospun refers to materials produced by electrospinning, a process that uses a high-voltage electric field to draw a polymer solution or melt from a spinneret into ultrafine fibers, typically collected as a nonwoven mat with high porosity and surface area.

In a typical setup, a syringe or capillary feeds a polymer solution or melt from a controlled-flow pump, while a high-voltage supply charges the liquid. A Taylor cone forms at the tip and a charged jet is ejected toward a conductive collector. Instabilities in the jet thin the fibers as the solvent evaporates or the melt cools, yielding diameters from tens of nanometers to a few micrometers. Parameters such as viscosity, surface tension, conductivity, flow rate, voltage, and the distance to the collector govern fiber morphology.

Common polymers include polycaprolactone, polylactic acid, polyacrylonitrile, and blends with natural polymers. Solvent choice is critical for solution electrospinning; typical solvents include DMF, acetone, and ethanol. Melt electrospinning avoids solvents but requires higher temperatures and can limit fiber fineness.

Electrospun materials find use in filtration, tissue engineering scaffolds, wound dressings, drug delivery, sensors, and energy storage, where high surface area and interconnected porosity facilitate transport and loading of functional agents.

Variants such as coaxial/core–shell, multi-jet, and needleless electrospinning address scalability and functionality. The approach has grown since the 1990s, with ongoing work to optimize materials, process control, and integration into commercial products.