Development of polypropylene nanofiber production system

In recent years, the electrospinning system has been attracting great attention due to various potential applications in many areas of science and technology as a cost-effective and highly versatile technique used to produce continuous nanofibers. However, solution electrospinning of polyolefins, including polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), has been limited due to their high solvent resistance and very high electrical resistivity. Here, we review the recently developed PP nanofiber production system by solution electrospinning, melt blown electrospinning, and novel handspinning, and report the morphologies, microstructures, and mechanical properties of the resultant PP nanofibers prepared by three different methods, respectively. We believe that this review will offer potential opportunities for a wide variety of applications of the PP nanofibers.