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Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are an emerging class of materials with unique properties such as extensive surface area, good stability, and high porosity, which facilitate their deployment in various fields of science, including nanomedicine. Numerous strategies have been proposed for designing nanoscale MOF-polymer composites with tailored properties. Polymers can be incorporated inside and outside of the MOF pores to prepare such composites. Polymers are directly grafted to the MOF wall via covalent linkages or physical coordination with the host. Though MOFs are associated with drawbacks like unrestrained liberation, placing of biomolecules/drugs, and less resilience under various physical conditions, a set of advantageous attributes have also been noticed, such as tuning capability and pore size of undecorated MOFs. Novel strategies have been developed to improve MOFs' functioning for bio-imaging, cancer treatment, and drug delivery. For this, the introduction of polymers has proved helpful in expanding the functionalities and diversities of MOFs. Owing to the benefits like a controlled release of drugs in response to extrinsic stimuli, boosted inclination towards targeted cells, intensified MOF durability, and increased biocompatibility, MOF-polymer composites are excellent sources of helpful implementation in the biomedical field. This study provides insight into the synthesis and performance of MOF-polymer composite as a novel candidate in the biomedical sector.

A clustering-triggered emission (CTE) strategy, namely the formation of heterogeneous clustered chromophores and conformation rigidification, for achieving tunable multicolor phosphorescence in single-component compounds is proposed. Non-conventional luminophores comprising just oxygen functionalities and free of π-bonding, i.e., d-(+)-xylose (d-Xyl), pentaerythritol (PER), d-fructose (d-Fru) and d-galactose (d-Gal), were adopted as a simple model system with an explicit structure and molecular packing to address the hypothesis. Their concentrated solutions and crystals at 77 K or under ambient conditions demonstrate remarkable multicolor phosphorescence afterglows in response to varying excitation wavelengths, because of the formation of diverse oxygen clusters with sufficiently rigid conformations. The intra- and inter-molecular O⋯O interactions were definitely illustrated by both single crystal structure analysis and theoretical calculations. These findings shed new light on the origin and simple achievement of tunable multicolor phosphorescence in single-component pure organics, and in turn, have strong implications for the emission mechanism of non-conventional luminophores., A clustering-triggered emission strategy is proposed to readily realize tunable multicolor afterglows in single-component pure organic compounds.

Effective methods for removing harmful metals from wastewater have had a huge impact on reducing freshwater scarcity. Because of its excellent removal effectiveness, simplicity and low cost at ambient conditions, adsorption is one of the most promising purifying approaches. MXene-based nanoarchitectures have proven to be effective adsorbents in a variety of harmful metal removal applications. This owes from the distinctive features such as, hydrophilicity, high surface area, electron-richness, great adsorption capacity, and activated metallic hydroxide sites of MXenes. Given the rapid advancement in the design and synthesis of MXene nanoarchitectures for water treatment, prompt updates on this research area are needed that focus on removal of toxic metal, such as production routes and characterization techniques for the advantages, merits and limitations of MXenes for toxic metal adsorption. This is in addition to the fundamentals and the adsorption mechanism tailored by the shape and composition of MXene based on some representative paradigms. Finally, the limits of MXenes are highlighted, as well as their potential future research directions for wastewater treatment. This manuscript may initiate researchers to improve unique MXene-based nanostructures with distinct compositions, shapes, and physiochemical merits for effective removal of toxic metals from wastewater.

Physical blending with hydrophilic nanoparticles (NPs) is generally adopted to improve the performance of hydrophobic membranes. Stable immobilization of the NPs remains challenging due to the weak bonding. Covalent bonding is expected to overcome this problem. Herein, γ-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxy silane (MPTS) was grafted onto PVDF membranes, affording a versatile materials platform to firmly anchor hydroxyl-rich nanomaterials (HRNs) (TiO2, SiO2, β-FeOOH-1, β-FeOOH-2, etc.) via a facile dehydration process. The stability of the resulting hybrid PVDF-g-PMPTS/HRN membranes is remarkably improved, as evidenced by their almost unchanged water contact angles even under ultrasonication for 30 min. The immobilization yield of HRNs, hydrophilicity, roughness and water flux of the membranes are enhanced with increasing graft degree of PMPTS. The resulting hybrid membranes exhibit much better water flux recovery ratio and BSA rejection ratio compared to the pristine PVDF membrane, owing to their excellent anchoring stability and outstanding hydrophilicity. This work provides a general effective chemical route to the construction of hybrid hydrophilic membranes with high performance.

The architecture of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) demonstrate phenomenal electronic, mechanical, biological and thermal attributes for highly requisite real-time applications. For instance, electronic and biological features of CNTs are surprisingly striking to engineer robust sensing and/or delivery cues for environmental, analytical diagnostics, and biomedical settings. With CNTs enforcement, several types of pristine and hybrid nanomaterials have been fabricated, though using different support carriers and synthetic or biological materials and used as sensory items or exploited as drug delivery systems (DDSs). Regardless of intensive research and applied potentialities of CNTs, several concerns, such as biodegradability, biotoxicity, and biosafety remains challenging and should be dealt with care prior to design and fabrication. This is mainly because of the lacking standardized protocols and ramification of pristine CNTs or CNTs-based hybrid nano-constructs on the ecosystem and human body are not well-established. For the futuristic use of these remarkable materials in the environmental, analytical diagnostics, and biomedical settings, their biological attributes and multifunctional characteristics must be elucidated with state-of-the-art. Herein, we reviewed CNTs-assisted analytical detection potentialities at large, and sensing/delivery potentialities of CNTs-based cues, in particular for environmental and biomedical monitoring. Several examples are given with particular emphasis to biosensors, DDSs, and implantations of CNTs-based cues to recognize viruses, cancerous cells, glucose, DNA, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and various inorganic gases. The review is wrapped-up with concluding notes and brief outlook over the futuristic developments to further insight the CNTs-based robust cues and their perspectives for commercialization.