The Electrospun Ceramic Hollow Nanofibers

Hollow nanofibers are largely gaining interest from the scientific community for diverse applications in the fields of sensing, energy, health, and environment. The main reasons are: their extensive surface area that increases the possibilities of engineering, their larger accessible active area, their porosity, and their sensitivity. In particular, semiconductor ceramic hollow nanofibers show greater space charge modulation depth, higher electronic transport properties, and shorter ion or electron diffusion length (e.g., for an enhanced charging–discharging rate). In this review, we discuss and introduce the latest developments of ceramic hollow nanofiber materials in terms of synthesis approaches. Particularly, electrospinning derivatives will be highlighted. The electrospun ceramic hollow nanofibers will be reviewed with respect to their most widely studied components, i.e., metal oxides. These nanostructures have been mainly suggested for energy and environmental remediation. Despite the various advantages of such one dimensional (1D) nanostructures, their fabrication strategies need to be improved to increase their practical use. The domain of nanofabrication is still advancing, and its predictable shortcomings and bottlenecks must be identified and addressed. Inconsistency of the hollow nanostructure with regard to their composition and dimensions could be one of such challenges. Moreover, their poor scalability hinders their wide applicability for commercialization and industrial use.