The current method for making dental ceramic prostheses in a subtractive manner causes a severe waste of materials while requires excessive manual works that bring in the uncertainty for control of quality. The rapid development and commercialisation of additive manufacturing (AM) has aroused interest and wonders both in material and dental communities about their potentials and challenges in fabricating of ceramic prostheses in a materials-saving manner. In this work, AM approach was applied to fabricate the dental bridges and implants made of zirconia. The achieved geometries and dimensional accuracy are used to demonstrate the potential of this technique in fabricating of dental ceramic prostheses, whereas the observed macro and micro defects formed during the treatment process is used to reveal the challenges facing in order to adapt this technology into real dental practice. Suggestions are provided for future development of the technology, particularly on minimising the processing defects.

In recent years, analyses of sweat have become more popular since it doesn’t require invasive sampling procedures. Although blood still remains the golden standards in clinical, analyses of other common body fluids, such as sweat, have become increasingly important. Because the compositions of sweat and blood are osmotically related, the content of certain metabolites in sweat can directly reflect the disease. Sweat detection can be used as an alternative to blood detection and allows continuous monitoring. Increased development of wearable sensors makes it possible for continuous sweat detection. Here, this paper gave a review about the sweat detection methods, such as fluorescence sensing, electrochemical sensing and colorimetric sensing. The advantages and disadvantages of each method and their developing trend in sweat detection were summarized. Then, for the problem of continuous sweat sampling, three methods (capillary force, hydrogel osmotic pump, evaporation-driven micropump) were introduced through different structures of microfluidic chip, and the level of sweat collection and transport achieved by related research was demonstrated. This review aims to provide guidance for future research in sweat detection and stimulate further interest in continuous monitoring of sweat using microfluidic chip.

SiOC/HfO2‐based ceramic nanocomposites with in situ formed HfO2 nanoparticles were prepared via a single‐source precursor (SSP) approach starting from a polymethylsilsesquioxane (PMS) modified by Hf‐ and Ti‐alkoxides. By varying the alkyl‐group of the employed Hf‐alkoxides, SiOC/HfO2‐based ceramic nanocomposites with different HfO2 polymorphs formed via thermal decomposition of the SSP under the same heat‐treatment conditions. Using PMS chemically modified by Hf(OnBu)4, tetragonal HfO2 phase was formed after the synthesis at 1100°C in Ar, whereas both, tetragonal and monoclinic HfO2 nanocrystals, were analyzed when replacing Hf(OnBu)4 by Hf(OiPr)4. After oxidation of the synthesized nanocomposites in air at 1500°C, a facile formation of oxidation‐resistant HfSiO4 (hafnon) phase occurred by the reaction of HfO2 nanocrystals with silica present in the SiOC nanocomposite matrix derived from Hf(OiPr)4‐modified SSPs. Moreover the amount of hafnon is dramatically increased by the additional modification of the polysiloxane with Ti‐alkoxides. In contrast, ceramic nanocomposites derived from Hf(OnBu)4‐modified SSPs, almost no HfSiO4 is detected after oxidation at 1500°C even though in the case of Ti‐alkoxide‐modified single‐source precursor.

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With the recent rapid development of the additive manufacturing family of technologies, the interest in application potential of stereolithography on producing ceramic dental prostheses has aroused and been widely discussed. While someone claimed the birth of 'stereolithography-fabricated ceramic dental prostheses', an overall evaluation based on the clinical requirements is lacking, making the optimism a kind of unrealistic. In this article, the prototypes of ceramic dental prostheses and standard specimens produced by the ceramic stereolithography approach are compared with those made by the classic subtractive manufacturing method by following the critical clinical requirements. Concerns on the upcoming challenges and future improvement towards clinical applications are presented that include productivity, delivery time, dimensional tolerance, mechanical and aesthetic properties. It is concluded that it is far too early to call 'stereolithography-fabricated ceramic dental prostheses' as a success as usable and competitive products for clinical applications.