Recent advances and applications of polymeric materials in healthcare sector and COVID-19 management.

The coronavirus disease pandemic is considered at its worst and all nations are collectively fighting to improve global public health. In this outlook, polymers and their related materials (including plastics) are the primary sources in the manufacturing of medical and personal protective equipment. Plastics can be mass-produced, economical, and sterilized, which makes them an inevitable material in the medical and healthcare sector. Along with plastics, antibacterial and antiviral coatings, polymeric nanomaterials and nanocomposites, and functional polymers have become excellent materials for COIVD-19. This review centres on the applications of polymer materials in managing the COVID-19 outbreak. Moreover, the utilization of plastics with its healthcare applications are reviewed. Apart from this, major challenges and future directions of these materials have also been discussed. This review will help aspiring researchers to develop the basic understanding of polymeric materials currently employed in medical sector.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Materials, Processing & Characterization.)