The urge to develop high-speed data transfer technologies for futuristic electronic and communication devices has led to more incidents of serious electromagnetic interference and pollution. Over the past decade, there has been burgeoning research interests to design and fabricate high-performance porous EM shields to tackle this undesired phenomenon. Polymer nanocomposite foams and aerogels offer robust, flexible and lightweight architectures with tunable microwave absorption properties and are foreseen as potential candidates to mitigate electromagnetic pollution. This review covers various strategies adopted to fabricate 3D porous nanocomposites using conductive nanoinclusions with suitable polymer matrices, such as elastomers, thermoplastics, bioplastics, conducting polymers, polyurethanes, polyimides and nanocellulose. Special emphasis has been placed on novel 2D materials such as MXenes, that are envisaged to be the future of microwave-absorbing materials for next-generation electronic devices. Strategies to achieve an ultra-low percolation threshold using environmentally benign and facile processing techniques have been discussed in detail.

Repurposing of drugs is one of the ways to combat COVID-19 and Traditional Chinese Medicine set a precedence for such an approach at the outset of the pandemic. In India, the Ministry of AYUSH has recommended a number of formulations in clinical management of COVID-19. Vyaghryadi Kashayam (VK) is a classical formulation indicated in the management of Vatakaphajvara (a type of fever) which is amongst the medicines recommended for management of COVID-19. The constituents of VK are Zingiber officinale Roscoe, Tinospora cordifolia (Thunb.) Miers and Solanum xanthocarpum Schrad & Wendl. A chemical profile of VK was generated using HPTLC and LC-MS/MS QTOF. Out of the 31 identified phytochemicals in VK, it was found that seven have been reported to have activity against SARS-CoV-2 in prior docking studies. Cellular uptake studies of VK in Caco2 cells showed that all these seven phytochemicals were absorbed by the cells. These findings provide preliminary hints about the potential of VK in clinical management of COVID-19. Further confirmatory in-vitro studies are warranted before large scale clinical studies are initiated.