Search

Abstract One of the significant issues of concern in recent times is detecting, quantifying, and monitoring various chemical contaminants in the environment. Numerous inorganic and organic substances are discharged into the environment from various anthropogenic activities, thereby polluting the ecosystems' air, water, soil, and other components. These contaminants have been documented to have deleterious effects on humans, animals, and the environment. Therefore, the need for monitoring and continual quantification of the contents of these contaminants in various environmental matrices becomes paramount. Many diverse sensors are fabricated for multiple utilizations, including liquids and gas sensors, wireless sensors, electronic tongues, and noses for detecting volatile airborne substances, pollutants, and effluents. This review focuses on cutting‐edge technology used in chemical sensors for environmental protection and sustainable development. It also discusses the fabrication and development of chemical sensors and their working principles. In addition, highlights about the applications of chemical sensors in environmental monitoring are also elaborated. This review article discusses emerging sensor technologies and their application in ecological monitoring. Further, the recognition of chemical warfare agents and homeland security applications with the help of bioelectronic nose and tongue is discussed. Finally, some challenges associated with chemical sensors and future trends are also attempted.

As the global population grows, the demand for safe food security aligned with sustainable development objectives becomes increasingly critical. This review delves into the innovative design techniques of stimuli-responsive smart alginate nanomaterials. It focuses on smart alginate hybrid nanomaterials and their nanocomposites that react to external stimuli. pH-responsive smart alginate hybrid nanomaterials are effectively utilized for the targeted delivery of bioactive components. Conversely, pH, temperature, specific analytes, and ionic strength-responsive smart alginate nanocomposites have food preservation, packaging, safety, and waste upcycling applications. This paper provides an in-depth examination of recent advancements in pH-responsive smart alginate hybrid nanomaterials, emphasizing targeted distribution systems, including nanoparticles, nanoliposome complexes, high internal phase Pickering emulsions, emulgels, nanogels, nanobioaerogels, and electrospun nanofibers. Moreover, the review highlights how smart alginate nanocomposites contribute to sustainable food preservation and upcycling of food waste, enhancing food safety. Detailed discussions on commercialization regulations underscore the importance of regulatory compliance and safety in deploying these advanced materials.

Conjugated polymers (CPs) offer the potential for sustainable semiconductor devices due to their low cost and inherent molecular self-assembly. Enhanced crystallinity and molecular orientation in thin films of solution-processable CPs have significantly improved organic electronic device performance. In this work, three methods, namely spin coating, dip coating, and unidirectional floating-film transfer method (UFTM), were utilized with their parametric optimization for fabricating RR-P3HT films. These films were then utilized for their characterization via optical and microstructural analysis to elucidate dominant roles of molecular orientation and crystallinity in controlling charge transport in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). OFETs fabricated by RR-P3HT thin films using spin coating and dip coating displayed field-effect mobility (μ) of 8.0 × 10−4 cm2V−1s−1 and 1.3 × 10−3 cm2V−1s−1, respectively. This two-time enhancement in µ for dip-coated films was attributed to its enhanced crystallinity. Interestingly, UFTM film-based OFETs demonstrated μ of 7.0 × 10−2 cm2V−1s−1, >100 times increment as compared to its spin-coated counterpart. This superior device performance is attributed to the synergistic influence of higher crystallinity and molecular orientation. Since the crystallinity of dip-coated and UFTM-thin films are similar, ~50 times improved µ of UFTM thin films, this suggests a dominant role of molecular orientation as compared to crystallinity in controlling the charge transport.

Nanotechnology has become one of the most rapid, innovative, and adaptable sciences in modern science and cancer therapy. Traditional chemotherapy has limits owing to its non-specific nature and adverse side effects on healthy cells, and it remains a serious worldwide health issue. Because of their capacity to specifically target cancer cells and deliver therapeutic chemicals directly to them, nanoparticles have emerged as a viable strategy for cancer therapies. Nanomaterials disclose novel properties based on size, distribution, and shape. Biosynthesized or biogenic nanoparticles are a novel technique with anti-cancer capabilities, such as triggering apoptosis in cancer cells and slowing tumour growth. They may be configured to deliver medications or other therapies to specific cancer cells or tumour markers. Despite their potential, biosynthesized nanoparticles confront development obstacles such as a lack of standardisation in their synthesis and characterization, the possibility of toxicity, and their efficiency against various forms of cancer. The effectiveness and safety of biosynthesized nanoparticles must be further investigated, as well as the types of cancer they are most successful against. This review discusses the promise of biosynthesized nanoparticles as a novel approach for cancer therapeutics, as well as their mode of action and present barriers to their development.

The focus of the present review is to provide a detailed discussion about the outstanding properties, namely physical, optical (majorly quantum confinement phenomenon), and electrical of cadmium selenide quantum dots (CdSe QDs). CdSe QDs have extensive utility in the biomedical domain owing to their unique properties. Thus, this review illustrates the wide range of applications of CdSe QDs in optical features, such as targeted drug delivery, drug resistance, drug analysis, photo-thermal therapy, antimicrobial activity, and tissue staining. Moreover, this review also highlights by discussing about the optical and optoelectronic application, which includes a good display, lasing, light emitting diode, and bioimaging that requires elevated photoluminescence spectra, quantum yield, and photostability.

Core@shell nanomaterials are a class of materials containing a core and a shell, both at the nanometer scale, as they have become a consequential research interest owing to their optical, electrical, and magnetic properties. Moreover, various core@shell nanomaterials have also emerged in many other fields, such as catalysis, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical due to their less toxicity, surface area, good biocompatibility, adequate penetration power for biological tissue, and selectivity for target molecules. Hence, this review covers the optical properties of core@shell nanomaterials and biosensors based on various core@shell nanomaterials, for example, inorganic@inorganic (Au@Ag), organic@inorganic (polyurethane@Au), inorganic@organic (CeO2@polyaniline), and organic@organic (poly(vinylidene difluoride)@dopamine) for biomedical applications; along with this, it also discusses the advantage and disadvantage of core@shell nanomaterials.

An individual's health is one of the essential aspects of life, but due to the limited technology at health care centers, many people face various restrictions during their treatment. These days, Internet-of-Things (IoT) is the most fascinating topic that provides solutions to these limitations in various ways. The IoT is utilized in various healthcare conducts that include detection, treatment, and monitoring of diseases. Wearable devices are a part of IoT that is proposed for helping patients to get the correct treatment. The conventional communication networks developed for humans-based applications face many issues like stringent latency, restricted computing capability, and short battery life. On the other hand, the onset of 5G has developed a new set of technologies that offer the vital ''backbone” for connecting to the billions of devices for the upcoming IoT that would completely modify our professional and private lives. Due to the data capabilities, intelligent management, and superfast connectivity of 5G, this network has enabled new health care opportunities that include treatment, data analytics, diagnostics, and imaging. In the current review, a systematic literature survey of IoT, IoT-based wearable devices, and the role of 5G in IoT for healthcare is described in detail. Furthermore, we have explained the usage of wearable devices in detecting the issue in terms of healthcare, such as curing, monitoring, and detection of disease. Nevertheless, this review article also emphasizes the employment of IoT architecture and its wearable devices in addition to the upcoming research challenges related to this area.

Micronutrient malnutrition (or hidden hunger) caused by vitamin B-complex deficiency is a significant concern in the growing population. Vitamin B-complex plays an essential role in many body functions. With the introduction of nanotechnology in the food industry, new and innovative techniques have started to develop, which holds a promising future to end malnutrition and help achieve United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goal-2 (UN SDG-2), named as zero hunger. This review highlights the need for nanofortification of vitamin B-complex in food matrix to address challenges faced by conventional fortification methods (bioavailability, controlled release, physicochemical stability, and shelf life). Further, different nanomaterials like organic, inorganic, carbon, and composites along with their applications, are discussed in detail. Among various nanomaterials, organic nanomaterials (lipid, polysaccharides, proteins, and biopolymers) were found best for fortifying vitamin B-complex in foods. Additionally, different regulatory aspects across the globe and prospects of this upcoming field are also highlighted in this review.

Metabolic syndrome is a collection of abnormalities including insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, obesity, inflammation, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, etc. The metabolic syndrome results in a dramatic five-fold elevation in the risk of developing type-2 diabetes and a two-fold heightened risk of developing cardiovascular diseases. It is fast becoming a major global health challenge, cause of mortality and morbidity. Regardless of advances in understanding the mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome, available therapies are still not effective. Nanotechnology is marked as an upcoming tool with a wide range of applications in biomedicine, especially for the management of metabolic syndrome and its associated disorders such as diabetes, obesity, etc. because the nanotechnology utilizes nanoscaled drugs and therapeutics that can reach specific target sites, which helps in improving drug delivery systems, early disease detection and diagnosis using nano-imaging techniques. Therefore, nanotechnology increases bioavailability, permeability, compatibility, the effectiveness of treatment and reduced adverse effects. In this review, we will describe the role of nanomaterial-based therapeutics in managing metabolic disorders such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance which all increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

Graphene is a two-dimensional material with sp2 hybridization that has found its broad-spectrum potentialities in various domains like electronics, robotics, aeronautics, etc.; it has recently gained its utilities in the biomedical domain. The unique properties of graphene and its derivatives of graphene have helped them find their utilities in the biomedical domain. Additionally, the sudden outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has immensely expanded the research field, which has also benefitted graphene and its derivatives. Currently, the world is facing a global pandemic due to the sudden outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), also known as COVID-19, from its major onset in Wuhan city, China, in December 2019. Presently, many new variants and mutants appear, which is more harmful than previous strains. However, researchers and scientists are focused on understanding the target structure of coronavirus, mechanism, causes and transmission mode, treatment, and alternatives to cure these diseases in this critical pandemic situation; many findings are achieved, but much more is unknown and pending to be explored. This review paper is dedicated to exploring the utilities of graphene and its derivatives in combating the SARS-CoV-2 by highlighting their mechanism and applications in the fabrication of biosensors, personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, 3-D printing, and antiviral coatings. Further, the paper also covers the cytotoxicity caused by graphene and its derivatives and highlights the graphene-based derivatives market aspects in biomedical domains. Thus, graphene and graphene-derived materials are our new hope in this pandemic time, and this review helps acquire broad knowledge about them.

Anisotropic gold nanostructures have fascinated with their exceptional electronic properties, henceforth exploited for the fabrication of electrochemical sensors. However, their synthesis approaches are tedious and often require a growth template. Modern lifestyle has caused an upsurge in the risk of heart attack and requires urgent medical attention. Cardiac troponin I can serve as a biomarker in identification of suspected myocardial infection (heart attack). Hence the present work demonstrates the fabrication of a sensing platform developed by assimilating anisotropic gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with anti cTnI antibody (acTnI) for the detection of cardiac troponin I (cTnI). The uniqueness and ease of synthesis by a template-free approach provides an extra edge for the fabrication of AuNC coated electrodes. The template-free growth of anisotropic AuNCs onto the indium tin oxide (ITO) glass substrates offers high sensitivity (2.2 × 10−4 A ng−1 mL cm−2) to the developed sensor. The immunosensor was validated by spiking different concentrations of cTnI in artificial serum with negligible interference under optimized conditions. The sensor shows a wide range of detection from 0.06–100 ng/mL with an ultralow detection limit. Thus, it suggests that the template-free immunosensor can potentially be used to screen the traces of cTnI present in blood serum samples, and the AuNCs based platform holds great promise as a transduction matrix, hence it can be exploited for broader sensing applications.

The novel coronavirus appeared to be a milder infection initially, but the unexpected outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), commonly called COVID-19, was transmitted all over the world in late 2019 and caused a pandemic. Human health has been disastrously affected by SARS-CoV-2, which is still evolving and causing more serious concerns, leading to the innumerable loss of lives. Thus, this review provides an outline of SARS-CoV-2, of the traditional tools to diagnose SARS-CoV-2, and of the role of emerging nanomaterials with unique properties for fabricating biosensor devices to diagnose SARS-CoV-2. Smart and intelligent nanomaterial-enabled biosensors (nanobiosensors) have already proven their utility for the diagnosis of several viral infections, as various detection strategies based on nanobiosensor devices are already present, and several other methods are also being investigated by researchers for the determination of SARS-CoV-2 disease; however, considerably more is undetermined and yet to be explored. Hence, this review highlights the utility of various nanobiosensor devices for SARS-CoV-2 determination. Further, it also emphasizes the future outlook of nanobiosensing technologies for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis.

Abstract Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA) are DNA/RNA synthetic analogs with 2‐([2‐aminoethyl] amino) acetic acid backbone. They partake unique antisense and antigene properties, just due to its inhibitory effect on transcription and translation; they also undergo complementary binding to RNA/DNA with high affinity and specificity. Hence, to date, many methods utilizing PNA for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases namely cancer, AIDS, human papillomavirus, and so on, have been designed and developed. They are being used widely in polymerase chain reaction modulation/mutation, fluorescent in‐situ hybridization, and in microarray as a probe; they are also utilized in many in‐vitro and in‐vivo assays and for developing micro and nano‐sized biosensor/chip/array technologies. Earlier reviews, focused only on PNA properties, structure, and modifications related to diagnostics and therapeutics; our review emphasizes on PNA properties and synthesis along with its potential applications in diagnosis and therapeutics. Furthermore, prospects in biomedical applications of PNAs are being discussed in depth.