The coupling of swirl flame with discrete plasma or particle phases offers promising opportunities in combustion control and nanomaterial synthesis.Over recent years,studies on the dynamics and stabilization of swirl flames have produced significant progress.Starting from swirl-stabilized combustion,we focus mainly on two recent trends in reviewing these new concepts in the field of combustion related to electrically/plasma-assisted dynamics control and flame aerosol synthesis of nanomaterials.We organize the material by four themes:(a)unsteady combustion dynamics and control methods;(b)electrically-and plasma-assisted combustion dynamics control;(c)swirl-flame-based synthesis of nanocomposites;and(d)in situ diagnostic methods for the complex combustion above. The coupling of swirl flame with discrete plasma or particle phases offers promising opportunities in combustion control and nanomaterial synthesis. Over recent years, studies on the dynamics and stabilization of swirl flames have produced significant progress. Starting from swirl-stabilized combustion, we focus mainly on two recent trends in reviewing these new concepts in the field of combustion related to electrically / plasma-assisted dynamics control and flame aerosol synthesis of nanomaterials.We organize the material by four themes: (a) unsteady combustion dynamics and control methods; (b) electrically-and plasma-assisted combustion dynamics control; (c) swirl-flame-based synthesis of nanocomposites; and (d) in situ diagnostic methods for the complex combustion above.