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Synthetic protocols to generate well-integrated frameworks of known composition are important for the rational design of advanced materials. 3D CeO2/NiO hierarchical assemblies were designed and constructed with 2D CeO2/NiO heterostructures as building blocks consisting of NiO nanosheets wrapped with CeO2 ultrathin nanosheets on the surfaces. The growth process of the 2D CeO2/NiO heterostructure nanosheets and the 3D assemblies was described based on a domain-matching growth process. The CeO2/NiO assemblies exhibited superior catalytic properties for CO oxidation. A model of the structure–property relationships based on surface and interface structures is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The crystal phase and morphology of MoO3 materials were precisely tuned under suitable synthetic conditions and mutual transformation of h-MoO3 and α-MoO3 was achieved via a facile hydrothermal method for the first time. The h-MoO3 microrods with a diameter of 0.5–1.6 μm and length of 2.2–6.1 μm were fabricated with the assistance of NaNO3 using α-MoO3 particles as the precursor. The transformation of h-MoO3 microrods to α-MoO3 nanobelts with a diameter of 150–430 nm and length of 2.1–14.5 μm occurred through hydrothermal techniques at higher temperature. Systematic studies of synthetic parameters revealed that the hexagonal h-MoO3 microrods formed at higher concentration of NaNO3, while h-MoO3 microrods vanished at higher temperature with prolonged time and α-MoO3 nanobelts were exclusively produced. The h-MoO3 microrods exhibited higher catalytic activity in photo-degradation of methylene blue than the α-MoO3 nanobelts. This is ascribed to the weaker fluorescence and reduced bandgap energy of the h-MoO3 microrods than those of the α-MoO3 nanobelts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]