Bacterial adhesion and colonization can result in chronic non‐healing wounds. Current hydrophilic wound dressings can release antibacterial agents into the wound exudate, but may result in overhydrated wounds, bacterial overgrowth, and even tissue maceration. Hydrophobic dressings are anti‐fouling, though ineffective to encapsulate and release bactericidal agents. Combining the advantages of hydrophilic and hydrophobic dressings seems difficult, until the development of superwettability surfaces offers an opportunity for omniphobic dressings from intrinsic hydrophilic polymers. Herein, omniphobic porous hydrogel wound dressings loaded with a zinc imidazolate framework 8 (ZIF‐8) are fabricated by a microfluidic‐emulsion‐templating method. The fabricated porous hydrogel membrane with its reentrant architecture is repellent to blood and body fluids, though intrinsically hydrophilic. This unique combination not only reduces the adhesion of harmful microbes, but also enables the encapsulation and release of antibacterial ingredients to wounded sites from hydrophilic polymer networks. As such, the omniphobic metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs)@hydrogel porous wound dressing can inhibit bacteria invasion and enable the controlled release of the bactericidal, anti‐inflammatory, and nontoxic zinc ions. Furthermore, in vivo study of infected full‐thickness skin defect models demonstrates that the dressing also accelerates wound closure by promoting angiogenesis and collagen deposition. Therefore, the omniphobic MOFs@hydrogel porous wound dressings are potentially useful for clinical application.

Sustainable solutions on fabricating and using a face mask to block the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) spread during this coronavirus pandemic of 2019 (COVID‐19) are required as society is directed by the World Health Organization (WHO) toward wearing it, resulting in an increasingly huge demand with over 4 000 000 000 masks used per day globally. Herein, various new mask technologies and advanced materials are reviewed to deal with critical shortages, cross‐infection, and secondary transmission risk of masks. A number of countries have used cloth masks and 3D‐printed masks as substitutes, whose filtration efficiencies can be improved by using nanofibers or mixing other polymers into them. Since 2020, researchers continue to improve the performance of masks by adding various functionalities, for example using metal nanoparticles and herbal extracts to inactivate pathogens, using graphene to make masks photothermal and superhydrophobic, and using triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) to prolong mask lifetime. The recent advances in material technology have led to the development of antimicrobial coatings, which are introduced in this review. When incorporated into masks, these advanced materials and technologies can aid in the prevention of secondary transmission of the virus.

Studying the stability of Pickering emulsion is of great interest for applications including catalysis, oil recovery, and cosmetics. Conventional methods emphasize the overall behavior of bulk emulsions and neglect the influence of particle adsorbing dynamics, leading to discrepancies in predicting the shelf-life of Pickering emulsion-based products. By employing a microfluidic method, the particle adsorption is controlled and the stability of the Pickering emulsions is consequently examined. This approach enables us to elucidate the relationship between the particle adsorption dynamics and the stability of Pickering emulsions on droplet-level quantitatively. Using oil/water emulsions stabilized by polystyrene nanoparticles as an example, the diffusion-limited particle adsorption is demonstrated and investigated the stability criteria with respect to particle size, particle concentration, surface chemistry, and ionic strength. This approach offers important insights for application involving Pickering emulsions and provides guidelines to formulate and quantify the Pickering emulsion-based products.

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Liquid marbles allow for quantities of various liquids to be encapsulated by hydrophobic particles, thus ensuring isolation from the external environment. The unique properties provided by this soft solid has allowed for use in a wide array of different applications. Liquid marbles do however have certain drawbacks, with lifetime and robustness often being limited. Within this review, particle characteristics that impact liquid marble stability are critically discussed, in addition to other factors, such as internal and external environments, that can be engineered to achieve a robust long-lived liquid marble. New emerging applications, which will benefit from this improvement, are explored such as unconventional computing, cell mimicry, and soft lithography. Incorporation of liquid marbles and liquid crystal technologies shows promise in utilizing structural color for optical display applications, and within green and environmental applications, liquid marble technology is increasingly adapted for use in energy conversion, heavy metal recovery, CO 2 capture, and oil removal.