Finardi U., Working Paper IRCrES, N° 03/2015

polymer network on the surface of textiles
are described.
In the range of NST application in textiles
a relevant place is the production of non- or
low-flammability fibers and objects.
The topic is reviewed by Horrocks
(2013). NST have improved this field since
the 1990s.
Nanoparticles included in polymeric
fibers have been studied to this end. More
in specific studies have deepened the role of
nanoclays to this end.
From the point of view of technologies
exploited to produce nanofibers a relevant
place is that of electrospinning.
The scientific literature on the topic of
cellulose acetate nanospun nanofibers has
been reviewed by Konwarh et al. (2013).
All the different types of techniques to
obtain electrospun materials, as well as the
applications of such materials, are
reviewed.
For instance bioactive substances can be
immobilized in the nanofibers, drugs can be
loaded inside the materials or photocatalytic
self-cleaning fibers can be produced.
Temperature-adaptive materials, materials
for bioremediation or antimicrobial fibers
can also be prepared, always depending on
the type of nanomaterials included in the
nanofibers during the electrospinning
process.
Finally, nanotech produced or enhanced
fibers, as well as smart textiles, pose safety
problems due to possible risks inherent to
their nature. Such risks are studied in the
work of Köhler and Som (2014), in
particular with regard to environment,
health & safety and sustainability.
According to the authors’ results it is
important to have a life cycle perspective to

assess the impact of such materials on
environment and the humans.
Safety strategies should be implemented
together with the technology innovation
process in order to minimize risk mitigation
costs.
The reviewed literature covers many (but
obviously not all) topics related to the
enhancement of textiles, fibers and cloths
with NST products.
Besides offering a general overview on
the topic introducing the following
experimental section of this work this
overview is targeted at introducing those
scientific-technological areas that have been
highlighted by the experimental activity and
that will be discussed in the conclusions.
METHODOLOGY USED TO BUILD
THE DATASET

Data on scientific products have been
retrieved on Elsevier SCOPUS® online
database .
This database has some advantages with
respect to other similar web-based
databases. First of all it encompasses a
much wider number of publications: it
reviews in fact more than 22,000 titles,
mostly peer review journals but also trade
publications, book series and conference
papers.
Moreover it has an efficient data retrieval
system, that can be exploited in order to
build complete datasets.
In order to build the dataset exploited in
the present work the following procedure
has been performed.
Data extraction activity has been
performed on July 2015. First of all a query

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