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Background Angiotensin II (Ang II) is associated with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) development. The present study investigated the impact of Ang II on the expression of receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL), as well as of nuclear factor of activated T cells cytoplasmic 1 (NFATC1) in RA synovial cells, and explored the underlying mechanism. Methods The expression levels of RANKL, NFATC1, and Ang II type 1 receptor (AT1R) were analyzed by RT PCR, western-blot, and/or immunohistochemistry. Western blot was also used to analyze the p38MAPK, JNK, and ERK1/2 pathways. Results The expressions of RANKL and NFATC1 increased in synovial tissues of RA compared to osteoarthritis (OA) synovial tissues. The expression of RANKL was upregulated by Ang II, and this effect was mitigated by an AT1R blocker but not by an AT2R blocker. Furthermore, Ang II activated the ERK1/2, JNK, and p38MAPK pathways, and this effect was blocked by the AT1R blocker. However, ERK1/2 and JNK inhibitors, but not a p38MAPK inhibitor, blocked Ang II-induced RANKL expression. Ang II also increased the level of NFATC1, and this upregulation was attenuated by AT1R blockade, ERK1/2 and JNK inhibition, and siRNA-mediated RANKL silencing, but not by AT2R blockade or p38MAPK inhibition. Conclusion Our results indicated that Ang II activated the ERK1/2 and JNK pathways via AT1R, thus upregulating RANKL and NFATC1 expressions in RA synovial cells.

The unique medial-pivot (MP) design of ADVANCE® system largely simulates the movement of a normal knee joint and a high mid- and long-term success rate has been reported in limited populations. The aims of this study are to investigate the mid-term clinical outcomes and survivorship based on a large cohort with 1128 cases. One thousand seven patients received 1276 ADVANCE® MP TKAs from January 2011 to April 2016 in our institution were retrospectively investigated. The range of motion (ROM), the Knee Society Score (KSS), the Knee Society Function Score (KSFS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) score, and the Forgotten Joint Score (FJS) were used to evaluate clinical outcomes and Kaplan-Meier survival curve was used to calculate the survivorship. In an averaged five year follow-up, the results of 879 patients (1128 knees) were successfully obtained and the clinical outcomes of 1107 knees were recorded. One hundred forty-eight knees (11.6%) were lost to follow-up. Excellent mid-term ROM, KSS, KSFS, and WOMAC score were recorded. A total of 53 complications were identified and most complications were related to the discordance of femoropatellar joint. Taking revision for any reason as end point, the overall survivorship was 99.2% at seven years. When taking all cases lost to follow-up as failures, the survivorship was 83.8% at five years and 50.6% at seven years. For MP designs, the intermediate clinical outcomes are good to excellent and the mid-term survivorship related to reasons other than infection is also satisfactory.

Mesoporous semiconducting metal oxides (SMOs) heterojunctions are appealing sensors for gas detecting. However, due to the different hydrolysis and condensation mechanism of every metal precursor and the contradiction between high crystallinity and high surface area, the synthesis of mesoporous SMOs heterojunctions with highly ordered mesostructures, highly crystallized frameworks, and high surface area remains a huge challenge. In this work, we develop a novel “acid-base pair” adjusted solvent evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) strategy to prepare highly crystallized ordered mesoporous TiO2/WO3 (OM-TiO2/WO3) heterojunctions. The WCl6 and titanium isopropoxide (TIPO) are used as the precursors, respectively, which function as the “acid-base pair”, enabling the co-assembly with the structure directing agent (PEO-b-PS) into highly ordered mesostructures. In addition, PEO-b-PS can be converted to rigid carbon which can protect the mesostructures from collapse during the crystallization process. The resultant OM-TiO2/WO3 heterojunctions possess primitive cubic mesostructures, large pore size (∼21.1 nm), highly crystalline frameworks and surface area (∼98 m2/g). As a sensor for acetone, the obtained OM-TiO2/WO3 show excellent response/recovery performance (3 s/5 s), good linear dependence, repeatability, selectivity, and long-term stability (35 days).

A universal sequential synthesis strategy in aqueous solution is presented for highly uniform core-shell structured photocatalysts, which consist of a metal sulfide light absorber core and a metal sulfide co-catalyst shell. We show that the sequential chemistry can drive the formation of unique core-shell structures controlled by the constant of solubility product of metal sulfides. A variety of metal sulfide core-shell structures have been demonstrated, including CdS@CoSx , CdS@MnSx , CdS@NiSx , CdS@ZnSx , CuS@CdS, and more complexed CdS@ZnSx @CoSx . The obtained strawberry-like CdS@CoSx core-shell structures exhibit a high photocatalytic H2 production activity of 3.92 mmol h-1 and an impressive apparent quantum efficiency of 67.3 % at 420 nm, which is much better than that of pure CdS nanoballs (0.28 mmol h-1 ), CdS/CoSx composites (0.57 mmol h-1 ), and 5 %wt Pt-loaded CdS photocatalysts (1.84 mmol h-1 ).

Based on the free sliding phenomenon of the monopterus albus in the cave, an oil-tolerant and easy-wetting viscoelastic system (A3B4C3E5F2) was selected and compounded as a possible lubricant to enable the transportation of heavy crude oil. In the viscoelastic system, the final floating equilibrium velocity of LD1 crude oil droplets with a diameter of about 5 mm is 0.01853 mm/s, and the floating resistance coefficient (CD) is 11067862, which shows favorable oil suspension performance. When the shear rate is approximately zero, the viscosity of the viscoelastic system is about 7000 mPa·s. However, when the shear rate is up to100 1/s, the viscosity is only about 32 mPa·s. A high viscoelastic film is formed at shutdown or low flow rates. Conversely, a low viscosity liquid ring formed at high flow rate. After being wet by easy-wetting viscoelastic system, the contact angle between LD1 crude oil and common pipe materials is wider than 160° at 30 min. The incubation time (t0) and the wettability composite index (WCI) are shorter than 1800 s and higher than 4800, respectively. Upon stability evaluation, the system can maintain good viscoelasticity and wettability in the range of temperature (5 ∼ 90 °C), oil content (0 ∼ 15 wt.%), and shear rate (0 ∼ 1000 1/s), respectively.

Background The aim of this study was to compare the mid-term clinical and radiographic outcomes between medial-pivotal (MP) insert and double-high (DH) insert used under cruciate-retaining condition in ADVANCE® total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods The follow-up was conducted for 158 consecutive patients underwent unilateral ADVANCE® TKA from January 2011 to April 2014. 84 MP inserts and 74 DH inserts were used under cruciate-retaining condition. A 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed between MP insert and DH insert to compare the clinical and radiographic outcomes. Results After a 1:1 PSM, 120 patients (60 pairs) were matched between MP insert and DH insert. The baseline demographic parameters and clinical scores were comparable between the two groups. The postoperative clinical outcomes at an averaged 8-year follow-up of both groups were significantly improved. The range of motion (ROM) of DH group was better than that of MP group and equivalent Knee Society Function Score (KSFS) between the two groups was found. However, the Knee Society Score (KSS), Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) score and Forgotten Joint Score (FJS) of MP group were found to be significantly superior than those of DH group. Comparable complication rate and revision rate were observed between the two groups. The radiographic results were also equally good between MP and DH group. Conclusions Although the mid-term clinical and radiographic outcomes of DH insert are fairly good, the clinical scores of DH group were worse than those of MP group.

Functional mesoporous materials have gained tremendous attention due to their distinctive properties and potential applications. In recent decades, the self-assembly of micelles and framework precursors into mesostructures on the liquid-solid, liquid-liquid, and gas-liquid interface has been explored in the construction of functional mesoporous materials with diverse compositions, morphologies, mesostructures, and pore sizes. Compared with the one-phase solution synthetic approach, the introduction of a two-phase interface in the synthetic system changes self-assembly behaviors between micelles and framework species, leading to the possibility for the on-demand fabrication of unique mesoporous architectures. In addition, controlling the interfacial tension is critical to manipulate the self-assembly process for precise synthesis. In particular, recent breakthroughs based on the concept of the "monomicelles" assembly mechanism are very promising and interesting for the synthesis of functional mesoporous materials with the precise control. In this review, we highlight the synthetic strategies, principles, and interface engineering at the macroscale, microscale, and nanoscale for oriented interfacial assembly of functional mesoporous materials over the past 10 years. The potential applications in various fields, including adsorption, separation, sensors, catalysis, energy storage, solar cells, and biomedicine, are discussed. Finally, we also propose the remaining challenges, possible directions, and opportunities in this field for the future outlook.

Summary Single-gas-phase chemical detections have recently attracted much attention in diverse fields; however, the pathways of composite sensing systems for detection of multiple gases could provoke better substantial potentials, which have not been fully explored due to the deficiency of feasible integrated sensing platforms. Here, we demonstrate a Janus mesoporous sensor device based on multi-response mechanisms, which can simultaneously detect multiple gases. The sensor devices based on Janus mesoporous carbon/silica films with asymmetric mesostructures and disparate active sites (–NH2 and –COOH groups) can be prepared via a solvent evaporation-induced self-assembly and selective functionalization strategy. Such Janus devices have exhibited distinct ultrafast response time under ultralow limit of detection and great selectivity and stability for NH3 and H2S sensing, and each gas concentration can be quantified individually. Theoretical calculation reveals that the distinction of response time is ascribed to the interaction difference to target gases, allowing for distinguished multiple signals.

Lanthanide doped core/shell structured nanoparticles have being widely studied because of their unique optical properties and promising applications in many fields. However, the elemental migration of the lanthanide ions in the core/shell nanoparticles still lacks sufficient understanding, which may influence the optical properties of the nanoparticles. By monitoring of the variation of optical properties during the postannealing progress in the solution at high temperature, the elemental migration of Er3+ in the core/shell structured NaErF4@NaYF4 luminescent nanoparticles is investigated, which are influenced by the annealing temperature, relative ion radius of lanthanide elements, and doping concentration differential between two adjacent layers. Based on the dopants migration in the core/shell structured nanoparticles, the emission profile of the luminescent nanoparticles can be well tuned by the postannealing process. The findings described here suggest a general insight into constructing lanthanide doped core/shell luminescent nanomaterials with controllable dopant ions spatial distributions and energy migration in the core/shell nanostructure.

Facile synthesis of ultrahigh surface area porous carbons with well-defined functionalities such as N-doping remains a formidable challenge as extensive pore creation results in significant damage to the active sites. Herein, an ultrahigh surface area, N-doped hierarchically porous carbon was prepared through a multicomponent co-assembly approach. The resultant N-doped hierarchically porous carbon (N-HPC) possessed an ultrahigh surface area (≈1960 m2 g-1 ), a uniform interpenetrating micropore (≈1.3 nm) and large mesopore (≈7.6 nm) size, and high N-doping in the carbon frameworks (≈5 wt %). The N-HPC exhibited a high specific capacitance (358 F g-1 at 0.5 A g-1 ) as a supercapacitor electrode in aqueous alkaline electrolyte with a stable cycling performance after10 000 charge/discharge cycles. Moreover, as a CO2 absorbent, N-HPC displayed an adsorption capacity of 29.0 mmol g-1 at 0 °C under a high pressure of 30 bar.

Functional mesoporous carbons have attracted significant scientific and technological interest owning to their fascinating and excellent properties. However, controlled synthesis of functional mesoporous carbons with large tunable pore sizes, small particle size, well-designed functionalities, and uniform morphology is still a great challenge. Herein, we report a versatile nanoemulsion assembly approach to prepare N-doped mesoporous carbon nanospheres with high uniformity and large tunable pore sizes (5-37 nm). We show that the organic molecules (e.g., 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, TMB) not only play an important role in the evolution of pore sizes but also significantly affect the interfacial interaction between soft templates and carbon precursors. As a result, a well-defined Pluronic F127/TMB/dopamine nanoemulsion can be facilely obtained in the ethanol/water system, which directs the polymerization of dopamine into highly uniform polymer nanospheres and their derived N-doped carbon nanospheres with diversely novel structures such as smooth, golf ball, multichambered, and dendritic nanospheres. The resultant uniform dendritic mesoporous carbon nanospheres show an ultralarge pore size (∼37 nm), small particle size (∼128 nm), high surface area (∼635 m2 g-1), and abundant N content (∼6.8 wt %), which deliver high current density and excellent durability toward oxygen reduction reaction in alkaline solution.

High capacity transition metal oxides have attracted much attention as potential sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) anodes. However, the fast capacity fading greatly limits their practical applications. In this study, highly crystallized mesoporous Fe3O4 nanoparticles encapsulated in the hollow nitrogen-doped carbon nanospheres (denoted as HCM-Fe3O4@void@N-C) have been synthesized and then explored as anode materials for SIBs. The resultant HCM-Fe3O4@void@N-C nanospheres possess a uniform particle size of ~ 180 nm with highly crystallized mesoporous Fe3O4 cores (~ 100 nm in diameter), a large surface area of ~ 250 m2 g−1 and a nitrogen-doped carbon shell (~ 7.6 wt%). Notably, a high discharge capacity of 372 mA h g−1 is obtained after the first five cycles at 160 mA g−1, which can gradually increase and be maintained at an ultrahigh specific capacity of 522 mA h g−1 even after 800 cycles. Besides, remarkable rate performance with a capacity of 196 mA h g−1 at a current density of 1200 mA g–1 and a high Coulombic efficiency (~ 100%) are obtained. Such good performance can be attributed to the unique yolk-shell nanostructure with a high crystallized mesoporous Fe3O4 core, a high conductive N-doped carbon shell, and a suitable void space, paving a new way to design and synthesize high-performance anode materials for SIBs.

As a benchmark photocatalyst, commercial P25-TiO 2 has been widely used for various photocatalytic applications. However, the low surface area and poorly porous structure greatly limit its performance. Herein, uniform ordered mesoporous TiO 2 microspheres (denoted as Meso-TiO 2 -X; X represents the rutile percentage in the resultant microspheres) with controllable anatase/rutile phase junctions and radially oriented mesochannels are synthesized by a coordination-mediated self-assembly approach. The anatase/rutile ratio in the resultant microspheres can be facilely adjusted as desired (rutile percentage: 0-100) by changing the concentration of hydrochloric acid. As a typical one, the as-prepared Meso-TiO 2 -25 microspheres have a similar anatase/rutile ratio to commercial P25. But the surface area (78.6 m 2 g -1 ) and pore volume (0.39 cm 3 g -1 ) of the resultant microspheres are larger than those of commercial P25. When used as the photocatalyst for H 2 generation, the Meso-TiO 2 -25 delivers high solar-driven H 2 evolution rates under air mass 1.5 global (AM 1.5 G) and visible-light (? > 400 nm), respectively, which are significantly larger than those of commercial P25. This coordination-mediated self-assembly method paves a new way toward the design and synthesis of high performance mesoporous photocatalysts. - 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry. This work was supported by the State Key Basic Research Program of the PRC (2016YFA0204000, 2017YFA0207300 and 2018YFA0209401), NSFC of China (Grant No. U1463206, 21603036 and 21733003), and Key Basic Research Program of Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (17JC1400100). The authors acknowledge the International Scienti?c Partnership Program ISPP at King Saud University for funding this research work through ISPP# 0018. Scopus

Periarticular osteopenia is the most specific hallmark of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) in the synovium has been found to participate in the pathogenic process of RA. This study examined whether and how RAS regulates periarticular osteopenia in RA. The synovial tissues from patients with RA and osteoarthritis (OA) were prepared. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with either saline, bovine type II collagen (CII) to induce arthritis (CIA), or CII combined with perindopril, an inhibitor of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Expressions of RAS components, including AT1R, AT2R and ACE, in human and rat synovial tissues were detected. Bone mass of rat joints was examined. Levels of RANKL, OPG and DKK-1 in rat synovium and expressions of TRAF6 and β-catenin in rat bone were examined. The results showed that AT1R, AT2R and ACE in human and rat synovium were up-regulated, but the increased ACE in rat synovial tissues was abrogated by perindopril. While CIA rats displayed increased bone resorption and decreased bone formation, perindopril treatment almost completely abrogated the RAS-mediated osteopenia, indicating that inhibition of ACE reduced the joint damages in rats. The expressions of RANKL and DKK-1 increased in CIA rats as compared with those in the control; TRAF6 was up-regulated and β-catenin was down-regulated in the bone tissues of CIA rats. The changes were then reversed by the use of perindopril. Our findings demonstrate that RAS in the synovium promotes periarticular osteopenia by increasing bone resorption and decreasing bone formation through modulating the RANKL/RANK/TRAF6 and Wnt/β-catenin pathways.

Ultrafine nanoparticles with organic-inorganic hybridization have essential roles in myriad applications. Over the past three decades, although various efforts on the formation of organic or inorganic ultrasmall nanoparticles have been made, ultrafine organic-inorganic hybrid nanoparticles have scarcely been achieved. Herein, a family of ultrasmall hybrid nanoparticles with a monodisperse, uniform size is synthesized by a facile thermo-kinetics-mediated copolymer monomicelle approach. These thermo-kinetics-mediated monomicelles with amphiphilic ABC triblock copolymers are structurally robust due to their solidified polystyrene core, endowing them with ultrahigh thermodynamic stability, which is difficult to achieve using Pluronic surfactant-based micelles (e.g., F127). This great stability combined with a core-shell-corona structure makes the monodispersed monomicelles a robust template for the precise synthesis of ultrasmall hybrid nanoparticles with a highly uniform size. As a demonstration, the obtained micelles/SiO2 hybrid nanoparticles display ultrafine sizes, excellent uniformity, monodispersity, and tunable structural parameters (diameters: 24-47 nm and thin shell thickness: 2.0-4.0 nm). Notably, this approach is universal for creating a variety of multifunctional ultrasmall hybrid nanostructures, involving organic/organic micelle/polymers (polydopamine) nanoparticles, organic/inorganic micelle/metal oxides (ZnO, TiO2 , Fe2 O3 ), micelle/hydroxides (Co(OH)2 ), micelle/noble metals (Ag), and micelle/TiO2 /SiO2 hybrid composites. As a proof of concept, the ultrasmall micelle/SiO2 hybrid nanoparticles demonstrate superior toughness as biomimetic materials.

Background: In patients with osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH), septic arthritis of the hip is rare, especially in the absence of factors likely to cause infection, which are often ignored by surgeons. Methods: Two patients seen at our hospital who had ONFH and concomitant septic arthritis of the hip joint were selected for inclusion in the study. Results: The clinical course suggests that ONFH developed prior to the hip infection. The two patients were not immune-compromised, and no remote septic focus was identified. The 2 patients, clinical manifestations of infection included fever and elevated white blood cell count. Elevated levels of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were observed in all 2 patients. In all patients, the results of hip magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) indicated hip infection. For 1 patients, culturing joint fluid revealed the presence of bacteria. In the second case, joint fluid was not cultured. In each case, the hip was debrided, and a spacer made of bone cement and containing vancomycin was implanted in the hip. Intravenous antibiotics were administered for 6 weeks postoperatively. There was no recurrence of infection, and total hip arthroplasty (THA) was performed 6 months after the operation. Conclusions: Septic hip is rare but exist in patients with ONFH. Elevated ESR and CRP contributed to the initial diagnosis; the results of hip MRI help to confirm the diagnosis. Overall, THA was an effective treatment.

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to explore the mid-and long-term clinical effects of Chinese patients with medial pivot (MP) prosthesis and posterior-stabilized (PS) prosthesis after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), to provide a reference for the recommendation of clinical prostheses.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 802 patients who received TKA was performed from June 2010 to December 2013. A total of 432 patients received a MP prosthesis (MP group) and 375 patients received a PS prosthesis (PS group). Postoperative range of motion (ROM), clinical scores including the knee scoring system (KSS), the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities osteoarthritis index (WOMAC), the forgotten joint score (FJS), and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups.ResultsA total of 527 patients were followed up, including 290 in the MP group and 237 in the PS group. Both groups achieved satisfactory results in terms of KSS score, WOMAC score, and postoperative ROM, which were significantly improved compared with those before surgery, but the difference between the groups was not statistically significant (P> 0.05). The FJS scores of the MP group and the PS group were satisfactory and no significant difference was observed (P= 0.426). Postoperative complications occurred in 5 and 11 patients in the MP group and PS group, respectively.ConclusionThe clinical results of TKA with MP or PS in Chinese patients at mid- and long-term are encouraging, and no significant differences were observed between the two types of prostheses. Studies have also shown that both prostheses are safe for Chinese patients.

Correlation analysis has been widely used to validate the accuracy of synthetic medium-resolution data generated by spatial and temporal fusion methods. However, as the temporal resolution of Landsat data is 16 days, this method only can be used for the validation of multi-temporal Landsat data. This means that the fusion accuracy of most images in a synthetic daily time series have not been validated. Furthermore, the fusion accuracy of each image in a synthetic Landsat time series is different, because there is a negative correlation with the time interval length between the fusion date and the base image date. Therefore, there is a need for temporal validation of synthetic daily Landsat time series data. We propose a suitable validation method in this paper. The improved spatial and temporal data fusion approach (ISTDFA) was applied to generate synthetic daily Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time series, which were then validated for both spatial and temporal dimensions using actual MODIS NDVI time series. For temporal validation, the correlation coefficients ( R ) between the actual and synthetic 500 m NDVI time series were calculated by pixel-by-pixel to generate imagery with an R value for each pixel. For spatial validation, R between MODIS NDVI imagery and synthetic Landsat NDVI imagery was calculated day by day to generate an R time series. This method was tested and validated in two locations (Bole and Luntai) in Xinjiang Province, China. The results show that, for temporal validation, the R values of 86.08% pixels in Bole and 94.71% pixels in Luntai are higher than 0.9, and in spatial validation, R values are higher than 0.8 on most days. Synthetic daily Landsat NDVI data was used to monitor the phenology of vegetation at a spatial resolution of 30 m successfully, while the MODIS product is limited to 500 m.

The popular pursuit of a high interior surface area, although leading to increasing capacitance records for carbon-based supercapacitor electrode materials, also produces low volumetric capacitances. We herein reported a porous nitrogen doped carbon material with a relatively low specific surface area of 403 m2 g−1 and a total pore volume of only 0.29 cm3 g−1, exhibiting a very high gravimetric capacitance of 400 F g−1 and a volumetric capacitance of 507 F cm−3 in a three-electrode system. Simultaneously, the energy density reaches 26.1 W h kg−1 at a power density of 200 W kg−1, and maintains 7.44 W h kg−1 at 5000 W kg−1, in a symmetric two-electrode test conducted in 6 M KOH solution. The result implies a maximized utilization of the interior surface and the significant capacitance contribution resulted from each unit surface, for which a systematic investigation on the critical structural features has been given.

Carcinogenic arsenic pollution in ground water seriously threatens the health and lives of humans all over the world. It is highly desirable to fabricate new materials for sustainable arsenate removal with high capacities, stabilities and recyclabilities. In this study, we demonstrate that uniform magnetic core–shell structured Fe3O4@Resorcinol-Formaldehyde@mesoporous TiO2 microspheres (denoted Fe3O4@RF@mTiO2) can function as excellent adsorbents for the fast removal of arsenate (AsV) in acidic environments with very high efficiency. The mesoporous TiO2 outer shell (50 nm in thickness) endows them with a high surface area of 337 m2 g−1 and a large pore volume of 0.42 cm3 g−1, thus resulting in a fast adsorption rate (1.16 g mg−1 h−1) and a high adsorption capacity (up to 139 mg g−1) calculated using the Langmuir model at a pH of 3. The inner Fe3O4 core (130 nm in diameter) makes separation facile from wastewater using a magnet. Moreover, the hydrophobic properties of the RF interlayer (10 nm in thickness) are increased after calcination at 200 °C, and this can protect the inner Fe3O4 cores against etching from acid solutions over long cycles. In addition, the study of the AsV adsorption mechanism on the core–shell mesoporous Fe3O4@RF@mTiO2 microspheres shows the existence of electrostatic forces and surface complexation interactions between arsenate and partially crystallized TiO2. Benefiting from all of these advantages, the multilayer magnetic core–shell structured design is expected to be a promising nanomaterial for long-term wastewater treatment.

Transition metal oxides (TMOs)/carbon nanocomposites are promising for high capacity long life lithium ion batteries (LIBs). Herein, we report a mesoporous carbon matrix confinement growth strategy to synthesize ultrasmall WO3 nanocrystals for lithium storage. In this strategy, WCl6 and phenolic resins (resol) are co-assembled with amphiphilic diblock copolymer PEO-b-PS into ordered mesostructures through an evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) process. During the pyrolysis process, the resol molecules can be polymerized and carbonized into amorphous mesoporous carbon matrices, which lock the amorphous W species well. Then, WO3 nanocrystals are formed and are uniformly distributed in the ordered mesoporous carbon matrix with the increased pyrolysis temperature; moreover, the particle size is well controlled to ∼3 nm under the confinement effect of the carbon matrices. The resultant ordered mesoporous carbon/WO3 composites show very large pore size (∼11.3 nm), high surface area (∼157 m2 g−1), high pore volume (∼0.25 cm3 g−1), and WO3 content of 84%. As an anode material for LIBs, the obtained composites show excellent cycling stability and rate performance. A high specific capacity of 440 mA h g−1 can be achieved after 100 cycles at a current density of 0.1 A g−1. We believe that such a confinement synthesis strategy is versatile to create TMO-based nanocomposites for outstanding LIBs.