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| S. no. | Types of nanoformulation | Description | Advantages | Disadvantages | Applications |
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| 1 | Nanocrystals | These are crystalline particles constructed by various methods such as homogenization, precipitation, milling, and spray drying [77] | (i) Increases dissolution rate via improving aqueous solubility of drug because bioavailability is enhanced | | (i) It is helpful for controlling the level of cholesterol and triglycerides [78] |
| (ii) Composition is safe |
| (iii) Appropriate for parenteral route [77] | (ii) Used in hyperthermic chemotherapy and in cancer treatment [79, 80] |
|
| 2 | Polymeric nanoparticles | These are prepared as nanocapsules and nanospheres by using different techniques such as ionic gelation, emulsification, and nanoprecipitation [81] | (i) Site-specific targeting | | (i) Targeting drug and gene delivery system [82, 83] |
| (ii) Toxicity reduction |
| (iii) Drug release in controlled manner |
| (iv) Increased permeability | (ii) Engineering of tissue [84] |
| (v) Drug protection from chemical and enzymatic degradation [81] |
|
| 3 | Liposomes | Liposomes are synthetic vesicles prepared by using lipid bilayers; these vesicles are further subdivided into two groups unilamellar and multilamellar, which are able to dissolve to both water or lipid soluble drugs at the same time [85, 86] | (i) Drug stability is increased | (i) Production cost is high | (i) Used for delivering various drugs or biomolecules such as protein/peptide [88], hormones [89], enzymes [90], anticancer drugs [91], and so on |
| (ii) Degradable and biocompatible | (ii) Drug leakage |
| (iii) Enhance the efficacy and toxicity is reduced | (iii) Poor solubility |
| (iv) Increased penetrability reduces side effects [87] | (iv) Inadequate stability [87] |
|
| 4 | Micelles | Micelles are spherical amphiphilic copolymers nanosized particles prepared by supramolecular assemblage and have a shell assembly with lipidic interior detached from the hydrophilic outward [92] | (i) Greater drug loading capacity | | (i) Best carrier system for water insoluble and lipophilic drug molecules [93], e.g., paclitaxel [94], doxorubicin [95], and so on |
| (ii) Better stability |
| (iii) Extended circulation period |
| (iv) Lesser side effects |
| (v) Protect against degradation [92] |
|
| 5 | Dendrimers | These are nanosized symmetrically balanced molecules where a small atom or groups of atoms are enclosed in symmetric branches like a tree acknowledged as dendrons [96, 97] | (i) Easy functionality and uniformity | | Medical application:
(i) Used as an analog of protein and enzyme [98]
(ii) Mimic the variety of biomolecule [99] |
| (ii) Protect against enzymatic degradation |
| (iii) Molecular size and weight can be controlled |
| (iv) Biocompatible [86] | To enhance the solubility and stability of drug molecules [100] |
| To achieve the targeted site-specific drug delivery |
|
| 6 | Nanosuspension | These are the colloidal dispersion of nanosized bioactive or drug molecules stabilized by the surfactants formulated via bottom-up and top-down techniques [101] | (i) Increased the dissolution rate via solubility and bioavailability of drug molecules | | (i) Produce the sustained release of drug over 24 h, e.g., ketoprofen [103] |
| (ii) Suitable for water-soluble drug molecules | (ii) Administered parenteral routes such as intra-articular and intraperitoneal and increased the drug efficacy [102, 103] |
| (iii) Reduces the dose size |
| (iv) Improves physiochemical properties of drugs |
| (v) Achieve passively drug targeting [102] |
| 7 | Carbon nanotubes | These tubes are formed by graphene as carbon hexagonal matrix as seamless hollow cylindrical fibers, which are rolled along separately at specific chiral angles. The diameter is around 0.5–50 nm [86, 104, 105] | (i) Small size and light in weight | | (i) Used as a fillers |
| (ii) Mechanical strength is high | (ii) Used in gene and cancer treatment |
| (iii) Have a larger surface area [84, 103] | (iii) They are used to increase the solubility and stability of drug candidates [104–106] |
|
| 8 | Nanogels | These are 3D hygrogels composition in nanosized range prepared by swellable crosslinked polymers having capacity to hold water [107] | (i) Are fabricated in different shapes | | (i) Used to protect drug candidate and targeted drug delivery |
| (ii) Crosslinked structural integrity | (ii) Drug release in controlled manner [110, 111] |
| (iii) Highly biocompatible | (iii) In the central nervous system, antiviral therapy of HIV-1 infection [112] |
| (iv) High loading capacity [108, 109] |
|
| 9 | Lipid-based drug delivery system | LBDDS for orally administered entities/drugs commonly comprises of a liquefied mixture of two or more excipients including triglycerides lipids/oils, fractional glycerides, and natural lipids , surfactants, and cosurfactants | (i) Controlled and targeted drug release | | (i) To improve the stability in GIT, increases solubility bioavailability of poorly aqueous soluble or insoluble drugs |
| (ii) Pharmaceutical drug stability and compatibility | (ii) Can be used for the delivery of different types of new drug chemical entity having very poor bioavailability, protein, peptides, nucleic acid, and so on [113–115] |
| (iii) Improved drug solubility and bioavailability | (iii) Formulation approaches include nano/microemulsion, SNEDDS,, SMEDDS, liposomes, and so on [4] |
| (iv) Lipophilic and hydrophilic drug encapsulation is feasible |
| (v) Biodegradable |
| (vi) Formulation flexibility |
| (vii) Poor uncertainty profile |
| (viii) Inert, noninvasive development of the vesicular system which is presented for immediate commercialization [4] |
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