Centrifugal Spinning: An Alternative Approach to Fabricate Nanofibers at High Speed and Low Cost

Nanofibers are an important class of material that is useful in a variety of applications, including filtration, tissue engineering, protective clothing, battery separators, energy storage, etc. So far, electrospinning is the most used method for producing nanofibers. However, the wide-spread commercial use of electrospinning is limited mainly due to its low production rate. Most other nanofiber production methods, such as melt-blowing, bicomponent fiber spinning, phase separation, template synthesis, and self-assembly, are complex and can only be used to make nanofibers from limited types of polymers. Centrifugal spinning is an alternative method for producing nanofibers from various materials at high speed and low cost. In centrifugal spinning, the spinning fluid is placed in a rotating spinning head. When the rotating speed reaches a critical value, the centrifugal force overcomes the surface tension of the spinning fluid to eject a liquid jet from the nozzle tip of the spinning head. The jet then undergoes a stretching process and is eventually deposited on the collector, forming solidified nanofibers. Centrifugal spinning is simple and enables the rapid fabrication of nanofibers for various applications. This article gives an overview on the centrifugal spinning process, and compares it with conventional nanofiber production methods.