Electrospun Flexible Ceramic Nanofibers: Toward High-Performance Materials for Multifunctional Applications

Flexible ceramic nanofibers have emerged as a rapidly growing research frontier by reconciling the intrinsic rigidity of ceramics with mechanical flexibility while retaining exceptional thermal and chemical stability. Electrospinning uniquely enables the fabrication of continuous ceramic nanofibers with programmable composition and multiscale architectures, making it a central platform for flexible ceramic systems. Beyond conventional material classification, this review establishes a unified multiscale framework to elucidate the origin of flexibility in electrospun ceramic nanofibers. Flexibility is shown to arise not from weakened ceramic bonding, but from the reconstruction of strain-transfer pathways across multiple length scales, including amorphous-nanocrystalline cooperative interfaces, diameter-dominated single fiber bending compliance, and pore-enabled strain delocalization within fibrous networks. These synergistic mechanisms enable large deformation while suppressing catastrophic fracture. Oxide, carbide, and nitride ceramic nanofibers are systematically discussed together with processing strategies and structure-property relationships. Representative applications are critically analyzed from a mechanism-performance coupling perspective, thereby defining emerging design paradigms and key bottlenecks for next-generation flexible ceramic nanofibers operating in extreme environments.