Recent Advances in Materials: From Biomedical to Environmental Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Nowadays, biomaterials are gaining increasing interest due to their potential applications in the biomedical field and others relevant scientific domains. This behavior is mainly based on the growing demand for regenerative or replacement tissues. Degenerative diseases, orthopedic surgeries, dentistry interventions, and injuries have driven the need for more successful and cost-effective treatments, and this in turn has stimulated the development of advanced biomaterials with improved functionality. Also, one of the biggest concerns around the world today is the rapid development of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. It is well known that infections are difficult to treat due to the fact that the microorganisms involved can easily adapt to treatment with common antibiotics. In this context, the development of new materials with enhanced antimicrobial activity based on nanocomposite biomaterials functionalized with essential oils is of great interest to the scientific community. This new type of functionalized biomaterial could reduce the use of conventional antibiotics and the development of drug-resistant microbes in the healthcare domain, leading to a reduction in hospitalization costs and an improvement in patients’ quality of life.

Another major problem is represented by environmental pollution (water, air, soil). It is known that for the removal of contaminants from soil, water, and air, environmental remediation uses various technologies, such as adsorption, chemical reactions, and filtration. Therefore, nanotechnology-based materials are especially effective for these processes because they have a high ratio of surface area to volume, which often leads to higher reactivity.

This Special Issue will focus on new advances in the materials domain. The main aim will be to highlight the latest advances in the development and complex characterization of new materials for biomedical applications, materials functionalized with essential oils, and advanced materials for environmental applications. Therefore, we invite all colleagues to share contributions that include the development of new materials, their complex characterization (physicochemical studies, biological evaluation, environmental studies, adsorption kinetics, etc.), and their potential biomedical/environmental applications. Also, we welcome studies that focus on advanced materials based on essential oils that highlight improvements in their properties.

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcomed, particularly those which present new advances and perspectives in the field of materials with biomedical applications and/or environmental applications.

Dr. Daniela Predoi
Prof. Dr. Carmen Cîmpeanu
Dr. Carmen Steluta Ciobanu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• environmental applications
• nanocomposites
• biomedical applications
• essential oils
• surface functionalization