Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been attracting much attention due to their excellent antimicrobial efficiency and low rate in driving antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which has been increasing globally to alarming levels. Conjugation of AMPs into functional polymers not only preserves excellent antimicrobial activities but reduces the toxicity and offers more functionalities, which brings new insight toward developing multifunctional biomedical materials such as hydrogels, polymer vesicles, polymer micelles, and so forth. These nanomaterials have been exhibiting excellent antimicrobial activity against a broad spectrum of bacteria including multidrug-resistant (MDR) ones, high selectivity, and low cytotoxicity, suggesting promising potentials in wound dressing, implant coating, antibiofilm, tissue engineering, and so forth. This Perspective seeks to highlight the state-of-the-art strategy for the synthesis, self-assembly, and biomedical applications of AMP-polymer conjugates and explore the promising directions for future research ranging from synthetic strategies, multistage and stimuli-responsive antibacterial activities, antifungi applications, and potentials in elimination of inflammation during medical treatment. It also will provide perspectives on how to stem the remaining challenges and unresolved problems in combating bacteria, including MDR ones.

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic, life-threatening illness that affects people of every age and ethnicity. It is a long-term pain for those who are affected and must regulate their blood glucose level by frequent subcutaneous injection of insulin every day. Herein, we propose a noninsulin and antidiabetic drug-free strategy for regulating blood glucose level by a nanosized "sugar sponge" which is a lectin-bound glycopolymersome capable of regulating glucose due to the dynamic recognition between the lectin and different carbohydrates. The glycopolymersome is self-assembled from poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly[(7-(2-methacryloyloxyethoxy)-4-methylcoumarin)-stat-2-(diethylamino)ethyl methacrylate-stat-(α-d-glucopyranosyl)ethyl methacrylate] [PEO-b-P(CMA-stat-DEA-stat-GEMA)]. The lectin bound in the glycopolymersome has different affinity for the glucose in the blood and the glucosyl group in the glycopolymersome. Therefore, this sugar sponge functions as a glucose storage unit by dynamic sugar replacement: The lectin in the sugar sponge will bind and store the glucose from its surrounding solution when the glucose concentration is too high and will release the glucose when the glucose concentration is too low. In vitro, this sugar-breathing behavior is characterized by a remarkable size change of the sugar sponge due to the swelling/shrinkage at high/low glucose levels, which can be used for blood sugar monitoring. In vivo, this sugar sponge showed an excellent antidiabetic effect for type I diabetic mice within 2 days upon one dose, which is much longer than traditional long-acting insulin. Overall, this concept of "controlling sugar levels with sugar" opens new avenues for regulating the blood glucose level without the involvement of insulin or other antidiabetic drugs.

Nanobowls with controlled openings and interior holes are created by self-assembly of homopolymers with hydrogen bonding and π–π interaction.

As an emerging field that is receiving an increasing amount of interest, theranostics is becoming increasingly important in the field of nanomedicine. Among the various smart platforms that have been proposed for use in theranostics, polymer vesicles (or polymersomes) are among the most promising candidates for integration of designated functionalities and modalities. Here, a brief summary of typical theranostic platforms is presented with a focus on modular polymer vesicles. To highlight modularity, the different methodologies for designing therapeutic and diagnostic modules are classified and current examples of theranostic vesicles that excel in both performance and design principle are provided. Finally, future prospects for theranostic polymer vesicles that can be readily prepared with functional modules are proposed. Overall, theranostic polymer vesicles with modular modalities and functions are more promising in nanomedicine than simply being "over-engineered".

Nitrogen-doped hollow carbon spheres were prepared from scalable homopolymer vesicles and used as the electrode materials of high-performance supercapacitors.

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Presented in this paper is a hybrid polymer/titanium dioxide (TiO2) vesicle that has excellent UV-screening efficacy and strong capacity to encapsulate antioxidant agents. Poly(ethylene oxide)-block-poly(2-(dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate)-block-polystyrene (PEO-b-PDMAEMA-b-PS) triblock terpolymer was synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and then self-assembled into vesicles. Those vesicles showed excellent UV-screening property due to the scattering by vesicles and the absorption by PS vesicle membrane. The selective deposition of solvophobic tetrabutyl titanate in the PDMAEMA shell and the PS membrane of the vesicles led to the formation of polymer/TiO2 hybrid vesicles, resulting in an enhanced UV-screening property by further reflecting and scattering UV radiation. The vesicles can effectively encapsulate antioxidant agents such as ferulic acid (up to 57%), showing a rapid antioxidant capability (within 1 min) and a long-lasting antioxidant effect.

It is an important challenge to effectively remove environmental pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dyes, and heavy metal ions at a low cost. Herein, we present a multifunctional homopolymer vesicle self-assembled from a scalable homopolymer, poly(amic acid) (PAA), at room temperature. The vesicle can efficiently eliminate PAHs, cationic dyes, and heavy metal ions from water based on π-π stacking, hydrophobic effect, and electrostatic interactions with the pollutants. The residual concentrations of PAHs, cationic dyes, and heavy metal ions (such as Ni) in water are lower than 0.60 and 0.30 parts per billion (ppb) and 0.095 parts per million (ppm), respectively, representing a promising adsorbent for water remediation. Furthermore, precious metal ions such as Ag can be recovered into silver nanoparticles by in situ reduction on the membrane of PAA vesicles to form a silver nanoparticle/vesicle composite (Ag@vesicle) that can effectively catalyze the reduction of toxic pollutants such as aromatic nitro-compounds and be recycled for more than ten times.