Polymeric hydrogels have drawn considerable attention as a biomedical material for their unique mechanical and chemical properties, which are very similar to natural tissues. Among the conventional hydrogel materials, self-healing hydrogels (SHH) are showing their promise in biomedical applications in tissue engineering, wound healing, and drug delivery. Additionally, their responses can be controlled via external stimuli (e.g., pH, temperature, pressure, or radiation). Identifying a suitable combination of viscous and elastic materials, lipophilicity and biocompatibility are crucial challenges in the development of SHH. Furthermore, the trade-off relation between the healing performance and the mechanical toughness also limits their real-time applications. Additionally, short-term and long-term effects of many SHH in the in vivo model are yet to be reported. This review will discuss the mechanism of various SHH, their recent advancements, and their challenges in tissue engineering, wound healing, and drug delivery.

Obesity is a metabolic condition that accounts for life-threatening disorders like cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes. There are several anti-obesity drugs currently available on the market, but many of them show poor bioavailability due to low water solubility. Several attempts have been made by researchers to improve the solubility of orally administered drugs, but many of them did not work properly. Herein, we introduced a block copolymer micelle consisting of poly (lactic acid)-co-poly (ethylene glycol) to improve the solubility of the anti-obesity drug "Fenofibrate.” The block copolymer was synthesized using the polycondensation method, while the micelle was formed when water was added dropwise to the copolymer. Finally, laser light scattering and DLS analysis were used to confirm the micelle formation. The size of the micelle increased from 158 nm to 249 nm after the fenofibrate drug loading inside the hydrophobic core. The polymer PLA-co-PEG can be used as a carrier for orally administered fenofibrate drugs in the future for better water solubility and efficiency.

This study focused on the interface of highly porous activated carbon (AC) electrodes fabricated from banana leaves with a series of polymeric binders like polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), along with examining their suitability in AC-based supercapacitor applications. The SEM analysis demonstrated that after the activation of carbon materials the number of pores significantly increased. During the study, a greater CV curve area was exhibited for the PVA binder than for PVDF and CMC. The specific capacitance values of the three binders were 170 Fg^-1, 160 Fg^-1, and 40 Fg^-1, respectively, in GCD. Moreover, all of the binders' GCD curves were found to be quasi-symmetrical. However, the PVA binder showed a relatively better triangular shape and longer discharge time compared to CMC and PVDF. All these results demonstrate that PVA can be a better choice as a polymer binder in AC-based supercapacitors.

The Mn₃O₄-Ag nanocomposite has a large specific surface area and a strong adsorbing and oxidizing reactivity due to the high reducing potential of the Mn₃O₄ phases it contains. The Mn₃O₄-Ag nanocomposites were synthesized by a simple chemical deposition method. The organic dye, methylene blue (MB), was found to be approximately 80% decolorized in about 1 min from their aqueous solution during the treatment of the dyes with a suspension of Mn₃O₄-Ag in an acidic medium and almost completely decolorized within 2 h. The creation of a surface precursor complex between MB and surface-bound Mn (II and III), where electron transferring occurs inside the surface complex, caused the decolorization of MB by Mn₃O₄-Ag. This nanocomposite also showed the antibacterial activity against Salmonella typhi and Bacillus megaterium, which cause typhoid disease and chronic brain abscesses, respectively.