title: Spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures: synthesis and applications.
abstract: This paper reviews the progress made recently in synthesis and applications of spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with multilevel (hierarchical) structures. The spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures are classified into four main structural categories that include (1) hollow mesoporous spheres, (2) core-in-(hollow porous shell) spheres, (3) hollow spheres with multiple porous shells and (4) hierarchically porous spheres. Due to the complex structures and being focused on spherical silica micro/nanomaterials, some novel methods based on the combination of two routine methods or two surfactants, and some special synthetic strategies are proposed to produce the spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures. Compared with the same-sized solid, porous or hollow silica spheres, these fantastic spherical silica micro/nanomaterials with hierarchical structures exhibit enhanced properties which may enable them to be used in broad and promising applications as ideal scaffolds (carriers) for biological, medical, and catalytic applications.
authors.affiliation: Functional Nanomaterials Laboratory and Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhongguancundonglu 29, Haidianqu, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Junhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D002384:Catalysis; D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016062:Porosity; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D012822:Silicon Dioxide