Electrospinning is a process by which polymer nanofibers (with diameter lower than 100 nm and lengths up to kilometres) can be produced using an electrostatically driven jet of polymer solution (or polymer melt). Simple alignment of electrospun nanofibers constructs unique functional nanostructures such as nanotubes and nanowires. Significant progress has been made in this area throughout the past few years and this technology has been exploited to a wide range of applications. Most of the recent work on electrospinning has focused either on trying to understand deeper the fundamental aspects of the process in order to gain control of nanofiber morphology, structure, surface functionality, and strategies for assembling them or on determining appropriate conditions for electrospinning of various polymers and biopolyiners. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.