Cubic ordered mesoporous Co3O4, prepared via the nanocasting pathway using KIT-6 as hard template, was found to be an excellent catalyst for low temperature CO oxidation, with the activity clearly depending on surface area and pore systems of the catalysts.

Single crystalline hollow metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with cavity dimensions on the order of several micrometers and hundreds of micrometers were prepared using a metal-organic polyhedron single crystal as a sacrificial hard template. The hollow nature of the MOF crystal was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy of the crystal sliced using a focused ion beam.

Anatase TiO(2) nanocuboids wholly exposed with high-energy {001} and {100} facets were successfully synthesized by a novel, environmentally benign synthetic strategy using acid-delaminated vermiculite (DVMT) and tetramethylammonium hydroxide as synergistic morphology-controlling reagents, where the DVMT layers act as effective hard template selectively stabilizing the {001} facets of TiO(2).

A hollow Fe2O3-TiO2-PtOx photocatalyst for visible light H2 generation was prepared from nanosized MIL-88B consisting of coordinatively unsaturated metal centers as a hard template. This photocatalyst is composed of hybrid metal oxide-TiO2 with controllable wall thickness and two different cocatalysts that are separately located on two surface sides.

We report here on an efficient one-step-impregnation method to synthesize crystalline mesoporous bimetal oxides (e.g. NiFe(2)O(4), CuFe(2)O(4), Cu/CeO(2)) using mesoporous silicas as hard templates under optimized mixing conditions. This new procedure enables a true replication of the mesostructure with high yield and phase purity, while retaining particle morphology of the template.

Three-dimensional, hollow, anatase TiO(2) boxes, each was enclosed by six single-crystalline TiO(2) plates exposed with highly reactive {001} facets, were facilely obtained by calcining a cubic TiOF(2) solid precursor at 500-600 °C. The formation of such particular nanostructures is attributed to the hard self-template restriction and the adsorption of F(-) ions from the TiOF(2).