Recent advancements in nanotechnology and materials science have enabled the development of magnetic photocatalysts with improved efficiency, stability, and reusability, offering a promising approach for wastewater treatment. The integration of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) into photocatalytic processes has gained significant attention as a sustainable method for addressing emerging pollutants—such as antibiotics and pharmaceutical compounds—which pose environmental and public health risks, including the proliferation of antibiotic resistance. Surface modification techniques, specifically applied to MNPs, are employed to enhance their photocatalytic performance by improving surface reactivity, reducing nanoparticle agglomeration, and increasing photocatalytic activity under both visible and ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. These modifications also facilitate the selective adsorption and degradation of target contaminants. Importantly, the modified nanoparticles retain their magnetic properties, allowing for facile separation and reuse in multiple treatment cycles via external magnetic fields. This review provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments in surface-modified MNPs for wastewater treatment, with a focus on their physicochemical properties, surface modification strategies, and effectiveness in the removal of antibiotics from aqueous environments. Furthermore, the review discusses advantages over conventional treatment methods, current limitations, and future research directions, emphasizing the potential of this technology for sustainable and efficient water purification.

Nanomaterial-based biosensors have advanced analytical methodologies by enhancing signal transduction, interfacial reactivity, and molecular recognition across diverse sensing platforms. In parallel, the diversity of nanomaterial compositions, architectures, and interfacial designs has expanded the range of available sensing strategies and performance outcomes. This review addresses limitations through a structure–property–function framework that links nanomaterial characteristics to sensing behavior, performance determinants, and application-specific requirements. Within this framework, nanomaterials are classified according to their dominant functional roles in biosensing, including plasmonic, electroactive, fluorescent and quantum-confined, porous, and hybrid architectures. The influence of morphology, surface chemistry, conductivity, and interfacial design on electrochemical, optical, and hybrid transduction mechanisms is critically examined, and key performance parameters, including sensitivity, selectivity, limit of detection, response time, stability, and reproducibility, are discussed in relation to material properties and sensing configuration. Recent advances in clinical biomarker detection, pathogen and nucleic acid analysis, and environmental and food safety monitoring are also evaluated to illustrate how nanomaterial design is tailored to different analytical contexts. Current limitations related to reproducibility, interface engineering, long-term stability, and scalable device integration are highlighted, together with future directions for the rational development of robust and application-oriented biosensor platforms.

The ability to efficiently tailor the surface properties of layered transition metal dichalcogenide (LTMD) dispersions is critical for optimizing performance and enabling scalable manufacturing techniques, such as spray coating and inkjet printing, for optoelectronic, energy storage, and sensing applications. Group VI LTMDs, owing to their unique properties in the monolayer architecture, offer exceptional potential; however, the properties of exfoliated dispersions are strongly dependent on the specific solution-processing techniques employed. These techniques determine the choice of subsequent surface functionalization strategies and, consequently, the characteristics of the resulting functionalized hybrids. Furthermore, the inherent heterogeneity of solution-processed dispersions—manifested, among other factors, in broad distributions of flake thickness and lateral size—remains a significant challenge and strongly influences the behavior of hybridized materials. As a result, exfoliation-method-dependent properties and dispersion heterogeneity introduce substantial complexity in the selection of appropriate surface-tailoring strategies, characterization methodologies, and data interpretation. To address these challenges, we systematically classify exfoliated Group VI LTMD dispersions according to their exfoliation methods and highlight recent findings that challenge previously accepted assumptions in the field. Finally, we provide perspectives on surface functionalization approaches for Group VI LTMDs and discuss key limitations associated with the characterization of these newly hybridized materials.