A new synergic-assembly strategy towards three-dimensional (3D) hollow nanoarchitectures

Large-scale synthesis and assembly of meso-, micro- and nanostructured building blocks with the desired orientations are of great interest for the next-generation nanoarchitecture design. On the consideration that the traditional synthetic methodologies for nanostructures often produce tangled nanounits, how to align the nanounits into the ordered orientation at high production yield is a great challenge to current methods. The present review describes a facile and controllable way to grow and assemble the 3D hollow nanoarchitectures, with the utilization of the synergic effects of hollowing process from the self-produced templates and the highly anisotropic growth of nanounits of the target materials in one-pot reaction. In this process, the building block nanounits spontaneously in-situ form owing to their highly anisotropic internal structure, while the self-produced templates act as the supporter and growth-direction guidance for the in-situ formed nanounits. Therefore, the whole assembly process is simple, controllable and without the complicated manipulations. Herein, in the light of the different kinds of self-produced templates involved in the assembly process, recent developments based on the new synergic-assembly strategy are reviewed according to the classifications: (1) self-produced gas bubble template strategy; (2) self-produced homogeneous solid template strategy; (3) self-produced heterogeneous solid template strategy. Notably, the synergic-assembly methodology described in this review provides a newly essential way to construct and assemble nanoarchitectures facilely and controllably, and is also a crucial step for the next-generation of nanoarchitecture design in the near future. In conclusion, the challenges and prospects for the future are discussed.