Development of new drug molecules is costly and requires longitudinal, wide-ranging studies; therefore, designing advanced pharmaceutical formulations for existing and well-known drugs seems to be an attractive device for the pharmaceutical industry. Properly formulated drug delivery systems can improve pharmacological activity, efficacy and safety of the active substances. Advanced materials applied as pharmaceutical excipients in designing drug delivery systems can help solve problems concerning the required drug release—with the defined dissolution rate and at the determined site. Novel drug carriers enable more effective drug delivery, with improved safety and with fewer side effects. Investigations concerning advanced materials represent a rapidly growing research field in material/polymer science, chemical engineering and pharmaceutical technology. Exploring novel materials or modifying and combining existing ones is now a crucial trend in pharmaceutical technology. Eleven articles included in the the Special Issue “Advanced Materials in Drug Release and Drug Delivery Systems” present the most recent insights into the utilization of different materials with promising potential in drug delivery and into different formulation approaches that can be used in the design of pharmaceutical formulations.

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With pore sizes up to 100 nm, the term "nanoporous" covers a wide range of material classes. A broad field of applications has arisen from the diversity of unique structures and properties of nanoporous materials. Recent research spans the range from fundamental studies of the behavior of atoms and molecules in confined space, creative synthetic pathways for novel materials, to applications in high-performance technologies. This Special Issue collects current studies about the progress in the development, characterization, and application of nanoporous materials, including (but not restricted to) mesoporous silica, carbon and metal oxides, porous coordination polymers, metal organic frameworks (MOFs), and covalent organic frameworks (COFs), as well as materials exhibiting hierarchical porosity. Their functionalities show promise for fields such as energy storage/conversion (e.g., photocatalysis and battery electrodes), sensing, catalysis, and their sorption properties for N2, CO2, NOx, or H2O, to name just a few.

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“Functional Polymer Solutions and Gels—Physics and Novel Applications” contains a broad range of articles in this vast field of polymer and soft matter science. It shows insight into the field by highlighting how sticky (non-covalent) chemical bonds can assemble a seemingly water-like liquid into a gel, how ionic liquids influence the gelation behavior of poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) as well as how the molecular composition of functional copolymers is reflected in the temperature-responsiveness. These physics were augmented by theoretical works on drag-reduction. Also, drug-release – an improved control of how fast or dependent on an external factor – and antibacterial properties were the topic of several works. Biomedical applications on how cell growth can be influenced and how vessels in biological systems, e.g., blood vessels, can be improved by functional polymers were complemented with papers on tomography by using gels. On totally different lines, also the topic of how asphalt can be improved and how functional polymers can be used for the enrichment and removal of substances. These different papers are a good representation of the whole area of functional polymers.

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This Book presents original research articles published in the Special Issue entitled “Green Nanotechnology: The Latest Innovations, Knowledge Gaps, and Future Perspectives”. It proposes pioneering and innovative applications, products, technologies, and processes in several green nanotechnology-related fields (e.g., drug delivery systems, antifouling nanoadditives, and coatings for optical applications), as well as identifying some knowledge gaps on this domain. Research on the sustainable production of nanomaterials based on safe-by-design approaches and (eco)toxicological assessments of novel nanomaterials is also provided. Future perspectives are also highlighted in the Editorial and across the original articles.

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This highly informative and carefully presented book covers the most recent advances as well as comprehensive reviews addressing novel and state-of-the-art topics from active researchers in innovative advanced materials and hybrid materials, concerning not only their synthesis, preparation, and characterization but especially focusing on the applications of such materials with outstanding performance.

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Mesoporous materials are capturing great interest thanks to their exceptional surface area, uniform and tunable pore size, ease surface functionalization, thus enabling broad series of intervention in the field of nanomedicine. Since many years, these aspects foster a deep investigation on mesoporous nanoparticles, to design and fabricate biocompatible, smart and stimuli-responsive nanotools for controlled drug- or gene-delivery, theranostics applications, in particular for cancer therapy, and tissue engineering. This Book is thus dedicated to the most recent advances in the field, collecting research papers and reviews. It spans from the synthesis and characterization of the mesoporous material, especially those made of silica, silicon and bioactive glasses, to their functionalization with smart gate-keepers, reporter molecules or targeting ligands, up to their in-vitro applications in the nanomedicine field.

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This reprint is the compilation of the articles submitted in the Special Issue entitled “Metallic or Metallic Oxide (Photo)catalysts for Environmental Applications” from the journal Catalysts, which gives an overview of the latest advances in the development of metallic or metallic oxide (photo)catalytic materials, with environmental applications for the elimination of organic pollutants or the valorization of biomass.

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This book is a special collection of articles dedicated to the preparation and characterization of nanoporous materials, such as zeolitic-type materials, mesoporous silica (SBA-15, MCM-41, and KIT-6), mesoporous metallic oxides, metal–organic framework structures (MOFs), and pillared clays, and their applications in adsorption, catalysis, and separation processes. This book presents a global vision of researchers from international universities, research centers, and industries working with nanoporous materials and shares the latest results on the synthesis and characterization of such materials, which have given rise to the special interest in their applications in basic and industrial processes.

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Do you care about your environment and your health? Contamination by hazardous substances in environmental matrices, including landfills, oil fields, and manufacturing and industrial sites, represents a global concern and needs to be remediated since it poses a serious risk to the environment and human health. Particular attention should also be paid to the use of medical devices and recent developments in the use of nanoparticles expressed as drug delivery systems designed to treat a wide variety of diseases. This Special Issue collects a compilation of articles that strongly demonstrate the continuous efforts made in developing advanced and safe nanomaterial-based technologies for nano-remediation and for drug delivery and other biomedical applications. It covers the most recent advances in the safe nanomaterials synthesis field as well as in environmental applications, in the use of restorative materials, drug delivery and other clinical applications, in order to lay the foundations for a cleaner and healthier future.

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The use of lipid-based nanosystems, including lipid nanoparticles (solid lipid nanoparticles (SLN) and nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC)), nanoemulsions, and liposomes, among others, is widespread. Several researchers have described the advantages of different applications of these nanosystems. For instance, they can increase the targeting and bioavailability of drugs, improving therapeutic effects. Their use in the cosmetic field is also promising, owing to their moisturizing properties and ability to protect labile cosmetic actives. Thus, it is surprising that only a few lipid-based nanosystems have reached the market. This can be explained by the strict regulatory requirements of medicines and the occurrence of unexpected in vivo failure, which highlights the need to conduct more preclinical studies.Current research is focused on testing the in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo efficacy of lipid-based nanosystems to predict their clinical performance. However, there is a lack of method validation, which compromises the comparison between different studies.This book brings together the latest research and reviews that report on in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo preclinical studies using lipid-based nanosystems. Readers can find up-to-date information on the most common experiments performed to predict the clinical behavior of lipid-based nanosystems. A series of 15 research articles and a review are presented, with authors from 15 different countries, which demonstrates the universality of the investigations that have been carried out in this area.

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Silica and silicon-based nanostructures are now well-understood materials for which the technologies are mature. The most obvious applications, such as electronic devices, have been widely explored over the last two decades. The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together the state of the art in the field and to enable the emergence of new ideas and concepts for silicon and silica-based nanostructures.

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The content of this Special Issue reprint illustrates how nanocomposites impinge on many important areas of the application of technology with benefits to society. The articles present recent developments in the use of antibacterial nanoparticles in restorative dentistry, in the development of novel drug delivery systems and in the incorporation of graphene and carbon nanotubes to enhance the strength of cement for construction purposes.

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