Chitosan is a biodegradable, biocompatible and extracellular matrix mimicking polymer. These tunable biological properties make chitosan highly useful in a wide range of applications like tissue-engineering, wound dressing material, controlled drug delivery system, biosensors and membrane separators, and as antibacterial coatings etc. Moreover, its similarity with glycosaminoglycans makes its suitable candidate for tissue-engineering. Electrospinning is a novel technique to manufacture nanofibers of chitosan and these nanofibers possess high porosity and surface area, making them excellent candidates for biomedical applications. However, lack of mechanical strength and water insolubility make it difficult to fabricate chitosan nanofibers scaffolds. This often requires blending with other polymers and use of harsh solvents. Also, the functionalization of chitosan with different chemical moieties provides a solution to these limitations. This article reviews the recent trends and sphere of application of chitosan nanofibers produced by electrospinning process. Further, we present the latest developments in the functionalization of this polymer to produce materials of biological and environmental importance.

Nanocrystalline ZnGa2O4 spinel powders were prepared through a simple and facile microwave-irradiation assisted solution-based route, using ethylene glycol as the reaction medium and, without using any structure-directing agents. The as-prepared product consists of ZnGa2O4 nanoparticles, which are crystalline as revealed by X-ray diffraction studies and TEM analysis. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies also show that, the size of these as-prepared nanoparticles is less than 10 nm. The annealed nanopowders show intense blue luminescence, under UV excitation, which makes these nanopowders important in the field of phosphor applications.