Electrospun nanofibers have been exploited in multidisciplinary fields with numerous applications for decades. Owing to their interconnected ultrafine fibrous structure, high surface-to-volume ratio, tortuosity, permeability, and miniaturization ability along with the benefits of their lightweight, porous nanofibrous structure, they have been extensively utilized in various research fields for decades. Electrospun nanofiber technologies have paved unprecedented advancements with new innovations and discoveries in several fields of application including energy devices and biomedical and environmental appliances. This review article focused on providing a comprehensive overview related to the recent advancements in health care and energy devices while emphasizing on the importance and uniqueness of utilizing nanofibers. A brief description regarding the effect of electrospinning techniques, setup modifications, and parameters optimization on the nanofiber morphology was also provided. The article is concluded with a short discussion on current research challenges and future perspectives.

Biosensors have potentially revolutionized the biomedical field. Their portability, cost-effectiveness, and ease of operation have made the market for these biosensors to grow rapidly. Diabetes mellitus is the condition of having high glucose content in the body, and it has become one of the very common conditions that is leading to deaths worldwide. Although it still has no cure or prevention, if monitored and treated with appropriate medication, the complications can be hindered and mitigated. Glucose content in the body can be detected using various biological fluids, namely blood, sweat, urine, interstitial fluids, tears, breath, and saliva. In the past decade, there has been an influx of potential biosensor technologies for continuous glucose level estimation. This literature review provides a comprehensive update on the recent advances in the field of biofluid-based sensors for glucose level detection in terms of methods, methodology and materials used.

Intelligent materials, also known as smart materials, are capable of reacting to various external stimuli or environmental changes by rearranging their structure at a molecular level and adapting functionality accordingly. The initial concept of the intelligence of a material originated from the natural biological system, following the sensing–reacting–learning mechanism. The dynamic and adaptive nature, along with the immediate responsiveness, of the polymer- and fiber-based smart materials have increased their global demand in both academia and industry. In this manuscript, the most recent progress in smart materials with various features is reviewed with a focus on their applications in diverse fields. Moreover, their performance and working mechanisms, based on different physical, chemical and biological stimuli, such as temperature, electric and magnetic field, deformation, pH and enzymes, are summarized. Finally, the study is concluded by highlighting the existing challenges and future opportunities in the field of intelligent materials.

Recently, in healthcare sectors, specifically for personalized health monitoring, motion sensing, and human–machine interactions, the rising demand for stretchable and soft electronic devices is significant. In particular, stretchable, skin mountable, breathable, wearable, light weight, and highly sensitive sensors are needed for detecting subtle deformation arising from human physiological signals and have potential applications in health diagnosis. In this review, we discuss flexible, noninvasive, and wearable sensors based on micro/nanofibers with unique sensing capabilities for detecting human vital signs such as body motion, temperature, heartbeat, respiration rate, and blood glucose level, which have applications in both fitness-monitoring and medical diagnosis. Here, the latest successful examples of micro/nanofiber based flexible and wearable human vital signs monitoring sensors in the form of film, mat, yarn, fabric, textiles, etc., are outlined and discussed in detail. Discussion includes the fiber fabrication technique, sensing mechanism, device structure, sensor performance, and data processing. Some of the latest fabricated self-powered devices with integrated sensing platforms are also reviewed. Finally, this article reveals the existing challenges that are still to be overcome associated with wearable technologies for applications in health monitoring, diagnosis, and rehabilitation.