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An oleylamine-assisted solvothermal approach has been developed for the synthesis of nickel hydroxide nanomaterials. α-Ni(OH)2 flower-like spheres and β-Ni(OH)2 hexagonal sheets were obtained by tuning the water volume in the synthesis system. The water-induced phase and morphology evolution from α-Ni(OH)2 spheres to β-Ni(OH)2 sheets were investigated in detail by controlled experiments based on their crystal structures. Moreover, NiO spheres and sheets were obtained by direct thermal decomposition of corresponding nickel hydroxides. N2 adsorption/desorption, temperature-programmed reduction with H2, and catalytic activity tests reveal that NiO spheres exhibit higher surface area, larger pore volume, higher reducibility, and better catalysis activities for CO oxidation than NiO sheets.

A facile one-step strategy has been developed for preparing monodisperse CeO(2) mesoporous spheres with high surface areas, uniform size distributions, and well-defined pore topologies. These mesoporous spheres have been demonstrated to be catalytically stable and active for CO oxidation.