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Noble metal nanoparticles smaller than 2 nm were immobilized inside the channels of mesoporous silica via a self-assembly method using cetyltrimethylammonium chloride as a structural directing agent. This general approach can be used for integration of various precious metals into mesoporous silica matrixes of ∼30 nm to achieve better matter utilisation and higher catalytic activity.

Through molecular design of a solid precursor, we engineer a novel nanocomposite composed of bimetallic (Ni-Fe) phosphide nanoparticles encapsulated in a N,P,S-tri-doped porous carbon matrix. With tailorable compositional and architectural features, the resultant nanocomposite presents remarkable performance in electrochemical water oxidation.

Developing economic and sustainable synthetic strategies for metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is imperative for promoting MOF materials into large scale industrial use. Very recently, an alternative strategy for MOF synthesis by using solvent-insoluble "solid matters" as cation reservoirs and/or templates has been developed to accomplish this goal, in which the solid matters often refer to metals, metal oxides, hydroxides, carbonates, and so forth, but excluding the soluble metal salts which have been prevailingly used in MOF synthesis. Although most of the pioneering activities in this field have just started in the past 5 years, remarkable achievements have been made covering the synthesis, functionalization, positioning, and applications. A great number of MOFs in powder form, thin-films, or membranes, have been prepared through such solid-to-MOF transformations. This field is rapidly developing and expanding, and the number of related scientific publications has strikingly increased over the last few years. The aim of this review is to summarise the latest developments, highlight the present state-of-the-art, and also provide an overview for future research directions.

A nanoscale "domain growth" mechanism was proposed based on experimental facts to describe the formation process of macro-meso-microporous HKUST-1 with 3-dimensional networks.