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Colloidosomes are three dimensional superstructures composed of building blocks with various morphologies and would have great application potentials in many fields. However, complicated synthesis procedures have restricted their extensive applications. In this work, we reported a facile one-pot synthesis approach to fabricate hollow core–shell α-Fe2O3 colloidosomes via a solvothermal method. The colloidosomes have an average diameter of 3 μm and both the core and the shell of the α-Fe2O3 colloidosomes are assembled by α-Fe2O3 nanoplates, which are composed of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles. When evaluated as a lithium-ion battery anode, these core–shell α-Fe2O3 colloidosomes exhibited high reversible discharge and charge capacities and stable cyclability.

Hollow nanomaterials present an important family of nanostructures with low mass density, high porosity, large reaction surface area and good strain accommodation and have great application potentials in many fields. In this article, we reviewed our recent studies on the synthesis and property studies of hollow nanostructures including hollow nanospheres, one-dimensional nanotubes/nanoboxes, two-dimensional hollow structures and three-dimensional hollow superstructures. These hollow materials were demonstrated to have great applications in catalysis, energy and antibacterials due to the special advantages of the hollow structures.

Hexagonal α-Fe2O3 nanoplates were prepared through a hydrothermal method with the addition of Al3+ ions. The added Al3+ ions not only act as a structure-directing agent for controlled growth of α-Fe2O3 nanoplates, but may also be the reason for magnetism alteration of α-Fe2O3.

In this article, we proposed a glycine-assisted double-solvent thermal approach to controllably synthesize a series of Cu2O microcrystals. In a water–ethanol system, the products have predominantly octahedral and polyhedral structures; while in water–glycol system or a water–glycerin system, the products have more tendencies to form a cubic type structure. Compared with the conventional route, this method provides a mild technique for various morphologies of Cu2O and omits the need for template or surfactant in such mild conditions. The effects of glycine and double solvents on the morphology control have also been discussed. The investigations of the application of these crystals for photodegradation of rhodamine B and mechano-catalytic overall water splitting to produce H2 reveals that all these products have great catalytic activities and the catalytic activities are affected by the morphology of the Cu2O crystals.

In this article, different Ni(OH)2 nanostructures have been synthesized through a facile template- and surfactant-free approach. By adding additives, changing the nickel source or choosing different solvents, nickel hydroxide can be controllably synthesized from β-Ni(OH)2 nanodisks to hierarchical β-Ni(OH)2 superstructures assembled by nanoplate building blocks. This approach is very easy and only 2–3 chemicals and no template or surfactant are used. The growth rate has the most influence on the formation of β-Ni(OH)2 nanostructures with different assembling modes. The obtained β-Ni(OH)2 samples show different electrochemical behaviors with different superstructures. Furthermore, cubic nickel oxide (NiO) crystals with nanopores have also been successfully obtained by thermal decomposition of the as-synthesized β-Ni(OH)2 in air. The magnetic parameters of these NiO nanostructures are different and related to the change of the superstructures.

Several manganese-based nanostructures, including novel Mn3O4 octahedrons, MnOOH nanorods, MnO2 nanowires and aggregated MnCO3 nanoparticles in the form of spindles, have been prepared through the redox reactions between KMnO4 and sodium carboxymethyl cellulose.