Themed collection Recent Review Articles

Polymeric nanoparticles represent an innovative approach to drug delivery, particularly for addressing complex diseases like cancer.

DNA nanomaterials offer promising advancements in addressing the challenges of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) through targeted drug delivery, biomarker detection, and therapeutic innovation.

External strategies such as electrode design, stress/heat transfer improvements, microstructure optimization, and multifunctional synergy show great potential for improving sensing performance of PVDF-based sensors. Images reproduced with permission, full details in paper.

Multifunctional coupling and signal decoupling achieved through nanostructure and supramolecule design, enable multimodal mechanoluminescent materials to play an increasingly important role in interdisciplinary applications and cutting-edge fields.

The increasing demand for sustainable solutions to address environmental and energy challenges has driven the development of advanced materials. This paper highlights recent advancements in the development of sustainable nanofibrous membranes.

Laser diodes based on solution-processed semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) present an economical and color-tunable alternative to traditional epitaxial lasers.

The dual role of ROS in liver diseases, and the potential of nanomaterials with catalytic activity for therapeutic applications are examined.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent biomedical applications of upconversion nanomaterials specifically within the near-infrared two-region (NIR-II) window (1000–1700 nm).

Mathematically inspired structure design has emerged as a powerful approach for tailoring material properties, especially in nanoscale thermal transport, with promising applications both within this field and beyond.

The emerging integrated power supplies for self-powered bioelectronic devices over the past few years are summarized. Additionally, the challenges and future perspectives in self-powered device design and manufacturing are also indicated.

Lithium metal is considered one of the most promising anode materials for lithium batteries due to its high theoretical specific capacity (3860 mA h g⁻¹) and low redox potential (−3.04 V).

This minireview highlights recent progress in BHJ-based photoelectrochemical cells and photocatalysts for solar-to-chemical conversions.

Chiral nanomaterials are emerging as a promising class of vaccine adjuvants with the potential to significantly enhance vaccine efficacy, especially in the context of cancer immunotherapy.

Dilute and single-atom alloy catalysts have attracted tremendous attention in heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we discuss recent progress on simulating their stability and catalytic behavior.

We summarize the latest developments in NIR-CPL generated by chiral inorganic nanomaterials and provide new perspectives for constructing NIR-CPL materials and developing new applications for chiral nanomaterials.

Solid-state nanochannel sensors consisting of recognition elements and nanochannels are capable of detecting a wide range of small molecules including gas molecules, drug molecules and biomolecules.

This mini-review focuses on how super-resolution techniques uncover the detailed interactions between nanoparticles and immune cells.

Chirality is an intriguing property of molecules, and exciting area of study involves the generation of chirality in nanographenes (NGs), also known as graphene quantum dots.

Nanoparticles boost ESCC treatment efficacy by enhancing drug targeting and overcoming biological barriers, despite biocompatibility and scalability challenges.

This review summarizes recent advances in functional coatings in water electrolyzers and fuel cells, covering both compositional design and mechanism understanding of coating materials.

Acoustic particle manipulation and typical acoustic tweezers are explained. Preparation of microdroplets, microstructured functional surfaces and anisotropic composites via acoustic field-assisted manufacturing (FAM) and applications in biomedical fields are discussed, plus challenges and prospects.

This review explores the synergistic potential of MOF-based MNs and details strategies for integrating MOFs and various guest molecules within MOFs into MNs to enhance transdermal therapeutic applications.

Payload delivery systems for DNA- and RNA-based therapies are advancing with viral and non-viral vectors, including lipidic and polymeric nanoparticles. This work highlights their role in oncology, innovations, and use in clinical trials.

This review summarizes the design strategy of metal oxide catalysts for PDH, including the suitable supports and the modulated active sites of catalysts. The roles of reaction conditions and advanced characterizations are highlighted.

Scheme of nano-delivery systems in anti-biofilm application. Created with BioRender.com.

Self-assembly methods are presented for inorganic nanomaterials used in bioapplications. The most promising in vitro and in vivo results are reported. A discussion on safety and biocompatibility issues, future challenges and prospects is performed.

Advanced flexible self-healing triboelectric nanogenerators (F-TENGs) achieve reliable energy harvesting in harsh environments, enabling sustainable wearable electronics and sensors through dynamic material innovations.

This review highlights how smart nanomaterials overcome biological barriers by enhancing targeting, reducing off-target effects, and enabling controlled drug release. Created in BioRender. Orash, A. (2025) https://BioRender.com/g97k271

This review involves advances in the mechanics of 2D materials, including measurement methods, sample transfer, materials design, and mechanisms covering the impact of defects and thickness for highly-bendable 2D materials.

Utilization of MXene nanozymes in electrochemical and optical biosensors for food safety.

Single photon sources (SPS) enable precise quantum communication, secure encryption and quantum computing. Recent research highlights quantum dots as ideal candidates for SPS due to their tunable emission, high stability, brightness and scalability.

In this review, we present the recent progress on transition metal dichalcogenide-based composites, including their typical categories, key fabrication strategies, and transformative roles in the field of cancer therapy.

The review highlights lipid-based nanomedicines (LBNs) for organ-specific delivery, focusing on functionalization strategies to improve target specificity, drug stability, therapeutic outcomes, and reduce side effects in clinical applications.

This review systematically summarizes the recent advances in the use of Pd-based chalcogenides as electrocatalysts for energy conversion reactions.

This review provides an overview of linear, circular, and full-Stokes photodetectors, discussing how to simplify their design from complex to simple. Images by permission of: RSC 2021, WLY 2023, Optica Publishing Group 2016 and ACS 2020.

This article reviews the functions of drug-derived CDs compared with their precursors and demonstrates their broad application prospects in biomedicine.

Versatile photocatalytic applications of NH₂-MIL-125(Ti) and its functional nanomaterials.

We present a comprehensive overview of the recent progress in the rational design of Sb³⁺ and other B^III cation doping in Cs₂B^IB^IIIX₆ DPs, along with their remarkable applications in optoelectronic devices.

This review highlights recent advances in additive manufacturing of rare-earth-free (REF) magnetic materials, emphasizing innovations in material synthesis, ink formulation, printing techniques, and device applications.

This work reviews the surface modification strategies and biomedical applications of MXene, discusses the challenges, trends and prospects of MXenes nanomaterials, which provides information for enhancing the clinical translation of nanomedicine.

The growing societal impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has underscored the urgent need for innovative strategies to address the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic.

Nanotechnology enables targeted theranostics by enhancing imaging and therapy. This review explores advances in pH-induced charge-switchable nanomaterials, their role in drug delivery and imaging contrast, and future directions in the field.

The charge storage mechanism of Ge nanocrystals is associated with the reduction, by hydrogen species, of Si–O–Ge bonds, which are located at the outer surface of the Ge nanocrystals where the Ge atoms form bonds with the silicon oxide matrix.

This review covers BaZrS₃ thin-film synthesis methods, optical, optoelectronic, electronic, and defect properties, and highlights device applications.

In this review, we summarize the origination, transfer and amplification of chirality in sub-nanometer nanowires/nanobelts (SNWs/SNBs).

Electrocatalytic reduction of CO₂ (eCO₂RR) into valuable multi-carbon (C₂₊) products is an effective strategy for combating climate change and mitigating energy crises.

Through bridging the gap between 2D material and single-atom material, 2D monolayer materials exhibit great potential in CO₂RR due to their unique structural/electronic properties, high atom utilization and low mass transfer resistance.

Nanoporous organic polymers (NPOPs) as versatile materials with robust thermal stability, large surface area, and customizable porosity, making them ideal candidates for advanced hydrogen (H₂) storage applications.

The purpose of this review is to comprehensively explore the multifaceted applications of MXenes and their composites in dialysis, highlighting challenges and future directions.

Helicity-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy enables the mechanistic understanding of the ultrafast dynamics of chirality and chiroptics in micro- and nano-chiral materials.

Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising materials for hydrogen (H₂) storage due to their versatile structures, high surface areas and substantial pore volumes.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of the recent progress in non-noble metal-based nanocatalysts for hybrid water splitting, including fundamental concepts, catalysts design, reaction mechanism and typical hybrid water splitting systems.

This review explores precatalysts’ structural reconstruction during alkaline OER, summarizes methods probing structural evolution and influencing factors, guides dynamic reconstruction regulation, and discusses reconstruction impacts on performance.

Overview of photon avalanche upconversion: history, imaging applications, photonic applications, and challenges for frontier applications. Image created with BioRender.

This review highlights the advantages of non-annealing synthesis, emphasizing the importance of in situ characterization, multi-level simulations and machine learning to accelerate photo-/thermocatalytic research in nanoscale high-entropy alloys.

Optimization strategy of MXene scale preparation.

Review of recent advancements in tackling bubble-related issues through the design and implementation of superwetting electrodes, including surface modification techniques and structural optimizations.

Dynamic SERS is a promising tool to capture in situ molecular fingerprints in complex chemical and biological systems, with continuously evolving sensitivity and temporal resolution.

mRNA-based therapeutics have entered the mainstream with seemingly limitless possibilities to treat neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors.

Chiral nanomaterials, as a class of advanced materials, have recently attracted extensive attention on account of their unique physical and chemical properties that stem from their special geometry.

Metal nanoclusters as advanced electrode materials to achieve electrochemical biosensing of diverse disease-associated biomarkers.

This review systematically describes the preparation of poly(amino acids) and peptides, and their use in drug loading for various diseases, offering insights for research and clinical applications of degradable biomedical polymers.

This review highlights advances in the use of biomolecular ligands to synthesize gold nanoclusters, factors affecting their optical and chiroptical features, and applications in biosensing, bioimaging, and theranostics.

This review provides insights on recent advances using label-free and label-based SERS assays for detecting multiple small extracellular vesicle biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, including issues surrounding their translation from lab to clinic.

This review gives a detailed summary on the biomass upgrading coupled with electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution and CO₂ reduction, with critical challenges and perspectives provided to inspire more efforts in pushing forward the future development.