The growing prevalence of bacterial infections and the alarming rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) have driven the need for innovative antimicrobial coatings for medical implants and biomaterials. However, implant surface properties, such as roughness, chemistry, and reactivity, critically influence biological interactions and must be engineered to ensure biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, and sustained antibacterial activity. This review evaluates three principal categories of antimicrobial agents utilized in surface functionalization: metal/metaloxide nanoparticles, antibiotics, and phytochemical compounds. Metal/metaloxide-based coatings, especially those incorporating silver (Ag), zinc oxide (ZnO), and copper oxide (CuO), offer broad-spectrum antimicrobial efficacy through mechanisms such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and bacterial membrane disruption, with a reduced risk of resistance development. Antibiotic-based coatings enable localized drug delivery but often face limitations related to burst release, cytotoxicity, and diminishing effectiveness against multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains. In contrast, phytochemical-derived coatings—using bioactive plant compounds such as curcumin, eugenol, and quercetin—present a promising, biocompatible, and sustainable alternative. These agents not only exhibit antimicrobial properties but also provide anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and osteogenic benefits, making them multifunctional tools for implant surface modification. The integration of these antimicrobial strategies aims to reduce bacterial adhesion, inhibit biofilm formation, and enhance tissue regeneration. By leveraging the synergistic effects of metal/metaloxide nanoparticles, antibiotics, and phytochemicals, next-generation implant coatings hold the potential to significantly improve infection control and clinical outcomes in implant-based therapies.

Leading sugar-producing nations have been generating high volumes of sugarcane bagasse ash (SCBA) as a by-product. SCBA has the potential to be used as a partial replacement for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) in concrete, from thereby, mitigating several adverse environmental effects of cement while keeping the cost of concrete low. The majority of the microstructure of SCBA is composed of SiO₂, Al₂O₃, and Fe₂O₃ compounds, which can provide pozzolanic properties to SCBA. In this paper, literature on the enhancement of the mechanical properties of SCBA-incorporating concrete is analyzed. Corresponding process parameters of the SCBA production process and properties of SCBA are compared in order to identify relationships between the entities. Furthermore, methods, including sieving, post-heating, and grinding, can be used to improve pozzolanic properties of SCBA, through which the ideal SCBA material parameters for concrete can be identified. Evidence in the literature on the carbon footprint of the cement industry is utilized to discuss the possibility of reducing CO₂ emissions by using SCBA, which could pave the way to a more sustainable approach in the construction industry. A review of the available research conducted on concrete with several partial replacement percentages of SCBA for OPC is discussed.

Bacterial infections and antibiotic resistance remain significant contributors to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite recent advances in biomedical research, a substantial number of medical devices and implants continue to be plagued by bacterial colonisation, resulting in severe consequences, including fatalities. The development of nanostructured surfaces with mechano-bactericidal properties has emerged as a promising solution to this problem. These surfaces employ a mechanical rupturing mechanism to lyse bacterial cells, effectively halting subsequent biofilm formation on various materials and, ultimately, thwarting bacterial infections. This review delves into the prevailing research progress within the realm of nanostructured mechano-bactericidal polymeric surfaces. It also investigates the diverse fabrication methods for developing nanostructured polymeric surfaces with mechano-bactericidal properties. We then discuss the significant challenges associated with each approach and identify research gaps that warrant exploration in future studies, emphasizing the potential for polymeric implants to leverage their distinct physical, chemical, and mechanical properties over traditional materials like metals.

Water ingression is a critical issue in honeycomb composite structures, which could result in catastrophic structural failure. In the aviation industry, they are widely used to manufacture critical aircraft structural components including fuselage, wings, and flight control surfaces. Catastrophic failure of these structures would be disastrous, thus identifying water accumulation in earlier stages of the defect is necessary. The conventional non-destructive testing method is thermography which is performed using handheld thermography cameras by manually accessing the specific areas. This method of inspection has been identified to be a risky, costly, time-consuming, and inspector-dependent technique. This paper describes using a wall-climbing robotic platform that can be controlled remotely to access and perform the inspection on a targeted structural area replacing the manual process. The designed wall-climbing inspection robot onboard a heat pump to stimulate the composite surface to an adequate temperature and, an infrared sensor to feed the real-time temperature data via Bluetooth serial communication to a remote computer system to be processed into a thermal image and evaluated to determine the presence of water. The results obtained from the thermographic sensor are validated with the comparison of the Fluke thermography camera.