Biofilm formation can lead to problems in healthcare, water distribution systems, food processing and packaging, industrial manufacturing, marine industries, and sanitation. These microbial communities can proliferate on biotic or abiotic surfaces, and are responsible for human disease and decreasing production efficiency and service equipment life in many industrial fields. The formation of biofilm starts with the attachment of bacteria to the surface, followed by bacterial proliferation and maturation of the microbial community. After forming a biofilm, bacteria not resistant to antimicrobial agents in their planktonic forms can turn resistant. The antibiotic resistance of bacterial biofilm, and the association of biofilms in generating infectious diseases in humans, highlight the need for designing novel and successful antibacterial, anti-biofilm, or anti-infection materials. This paper aims to review the mechanism of biofilm formation, the impact on different industries, the interaction mechanism of nanoparticles with bacteria, and strategies to design anti-biofilm materials. Examples of designing anti-infection bio-implants, coatings, medical devices, wound dressings, and sutures are reviewed.

Wound dressings have a significant role in managing trauma-related injuries, chronic lacerations, as well as post-operative complications, by preventing infections and promoting tissue regeneration. Conventional methods using sutures and gauze often pose constraints in healing effectiveness and cost. Emerging materials, particularly cellulose-based nanofibers, offer a favorable choice due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and structural similarity to the extracellular matrix. Cellulose, being an abundant, naturally available biopolymer, forms the basis for modern materials for wound dressing. It is a very resourceful material due to its capability to be processed into films, fibers, and membranes with tailored properties. Surface modification of cellulose membranes with nanoparticles or bioactive compounds assists in enhancing the antimicrobial properties and supports sustained drug release, essential in chronic wound infections. Electrospinning and other modern fabrication techniques allow for controlling the fiber morphology and drug-delivery characteristics. This review highlights the properties, fabrication techniques, surface functionalization, and biomedical applications of cellulose-based materials in wound care. With increasing demand for effective and cost-effective wound treatments, cellulose nanofibers stand out as a sustainable, multifunctional platform for cutting-edge wound dressings, offering improved healing, reduced scarring, and potential for amalgamation with several drug delivery and tissue engineering approaches.

Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) have been shown to be ideal nanoparticles for polymer reinforcement, sustained drug release, nano-reactor synthesis, toxic material removal, regenerative medicine, and as a substrate material for nanostructured coatings. Metal and metal oxide nanoparticles have been used for centuries in various medical applications, primarily for their antimicrobial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. The focus of this review is the metallization of HNT surfaces. Different technologies use specific metal compounds and multi-step chemical reactions to metalize the HNT surface. This review begins with a brief overview of the current methods for metallizing the HNT surface. Our focus then provides a detailed study on specific applications of metal-coated HNTs (mHNTs) in the field of nanomedicine. The focus is on using mHNTs and Mhnt polymer composites in anti-infective therapy, immunotherapy, dentistry, regenerative medicine, and wound healing. The importance of HNTs in aerospace, defense, and industry has emerged, and the application potential and enormous market value for metal oxide nanoparticles is apparent. The commercialization potential of metal-coated HNTs is also discussed.

This study optimized the extraction conditions to maximize the recovery yields of quercetin and total flavonoids from red onion skin waste using sequential microwave/ultrasound-assisted extraction. Five effective factors of quercetin extraction yield were investigated using response surface methodology. The method was successfully performed under optimal 60 s microwave irradiation conditions followed by 15 min sonication at 70 °C with 70% (v/v, water) ethanol with a solvent-to-solid ratio of 30 mL/g. The variance analysis of the model for both quercetin (Y₁) and total flavonoid (Y₂) recovery from DOS demonstrated that ultrasound temperature (X₂) was the most highly significant and influential factor, with a p-value of <0.0001 for both responses. Additionally, three key interaction terms—X₁X₂, X₂X₄, and X₂X₅—were identified as highly significant, further underscoring the critical role of ultrasound temperature in optimizing the extraction process for both quercetin and total flavonoids. The maximum recovery yields of quercetin and total flavonoids from red onion skin were 10.32% and 12.52%, respectively. The predicted values for quercetin (10.05%) and total flavonoids (12.72%) were very close to the experimental results. The recovery yields obtained from different extraction methods under the identical experimental conditions mentioned earlier were ultrasound/microwave-assisted extraction (7.66% quercetin and 10.18% total flavonoids), ultrasound-assisted extraction (5.36% quercetin and 8.34% total flavonoids), and microwave-assisted extraction (5.03% quercetin and 7.91% total flavonoids). The ANOVA confirmed highly significant regression models (p-values < 0.0001), with an insignificant lack of fit (p = 0.0515 for quercetin, p = 0.1276 for total flavonoids), demonstrating the robustness and reliability of the optimization. This study provides valuable insights for improving the extraction of bioactive compounds, which is critical for developing effective cancer treatments and advancing medical research. Additionally, the model shows potential for scaling up food processing applications to recover valuable products from red onion skin waste.