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Since the discovery of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) nanoparticles (NPs) with the onion-like structure, many efforts have been made to develop their fabrication methods. Laser fabrication (LF) is one of the most promising methods to prepare onion-structured TMDC (or OS-TMDC) NPs due to its green, flexible, and scalable syntheses. In this mini-review article, we systematically introduce various laser-induced OS-TMDC (especially the OS-MoS2) NPs, their formation mechanism, properties, and applications. The preparation routes mainly include laser ablation in liquids and atmospheres, and laser irradiation in liquids. The various formation mechanisms are then introduced based on the different preparation routes, to describe the formations of the corresponding OS-NPs. Finally, some interesting properties and novel applications of these NPs are briefly demonstrated, and a short outlook is also given. This review could help to understand the progress of the laser-induced OS-TMDC NPs and their applications.

Colloidal motors with cavity structure, which have advantages over solid motors in catalytic efficiency, cargo capacity and biocompatibility, are still expected. Here, we design and fabricate a type of truncated hollow sub-microsphere via organic colloidal template etching/heating and layer-by-layer isotropic deposition. The as-prepared truncated hollow sphere is of one circular open pore through the shell layer and built of Pt, Ag and Au shell layers from inside to outside. They are controllable in sphere diameter, circular open pore size and shell thickness, which depend on the template and deposition conditions. Further experiments have shown that the Ag sandwich layer and post-deposition ageing process are crucial to obtaining strong and complete truncated hollow sub-microspheres. Their formation is attributed to the template geometry and nearly isotropic deposition. Due to the catalytic Pt layer on the inner surface and the truncated hollow spherical structure, such Pt–Ag–Au hollow spheres are demonstrated to be chemically propelled colloidal motors, which can directionally move in H2O2-containing solutions. This study presents a controllable route for mass-fabricating heterogeneous multi-layer truncated hollow sub-microspheres, and provides a new type of chemically self-propelled colloidal motor.

In this study, blue-emitting carbon quantum dots (CQDs) have been directly synthesized via an ultrasonic method using starch soluble as the carbon source. The CQDs were modified by using γ-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxyl silane (KH570). The modified CQDs were then combined with silicone rubber (SR) through a hydrosilylation reaction to fabricate CQDs/SR composites. The results indicated that the average size of the as-prepared CQDs was approximately 2.6 nm, with a distribution between 1.0 and 4.0 nm. The CQDs modified by KH570 were well dispersed in the SR, which can effectively prevent the fluorescence quenching of the CQDs due to agglomeration. Remarkably, the as-prepared CQDs/SR composites emitting bright blue fluorescence have high transparency, great mechanical properties and good thermal stability, thereby facilitating enormous potential applications in a wide variety of fields such as optoelectronic devices and LEDs.