A facile process for the preparation of multifunctional nanospheres combining several advantages of mesoporous channels, up-conversion (UC) luminescence, and photothermal responses into one single entity is reported. First, Gd2O3:Yb/Er assembled mesoporous silica with 2D hexagonal (MCM-41) and 3D cubic (MCM-48) network have been prepared via a one-step procedure. Then, gold nanocrystals with diameter of 5 nm are integrated with the amino group functionalized nanocomposites. Upon 980 nm near infrared (NIR) laser irradiation, a wavelength-dependent enhancement of the UC intensities is observed due to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of attached gold nanoparticles. These composites have good biocompatibility and sustained anticancer drug (doxorubicin, DOX) release properties, making it a promising candidate for drug delivery. Particularly, under 980 nm NIR laser irradiation, the green UC emission overlaps the SPR band of gold nanocrystals, which causes a photothermal effect of gold nanocrystals and induces a rapid DOX release from the Au hybrid materials. This DOX loaded multifunctional system has an obvious cytotoxic effect and photothermally killing enhanced effect on SKOV3 ovarian cancer cells. The endocytosis process was also demonstrated through confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) images. Such novel multifunctional anticancer drug delivery systems, which combine hyperthermia with the chemotherapeutic drugs by synergistic effect, should be of high potential in cancer therapy.Keywords: drug release; mesoporous silica; plasmon-enhancement; up-conversion;

The mesoporous carbon fibers, of about 400 to 900 nm in diameter, have been synthesized by an electrospinning method with PF resin and PVP as carbon sources and triblock copolymer Pluronic P123 and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as mesoporous templates. All materials have large surface areas (1215–2092 m2 g−1), high pore volumes (0.66–1.37 cm3 g−1), and mesoporous structure (with pore sizes of 2.31–2.64, 3.79–3.86, and 5.68–5.70 nm). The adsorption capability of four dyes, methylthionine chloride, methyl orange, rhodamine B, and congo red have been investigated. All the adsorption isotherms fit the typical Langmuir adsorption model well. The mesoporous carbon fibers show high adsorption capacity for these bulky dye molecules. The adsorption amount is mainly determined by the surface area, pore size and the structure/size matching between adsorbent and adsorbate. With the highest BET surface area, C-3.5 (with 3.5 g TEOS) exhibits the highest adsorption amount (1044 mg g−1).

Two 2D multifunctional microporous metal–organic frameworks, [Cd3(L)2(H2O)6]·1.5H2O·2EtOH·DMF (1, H3L = 2,4,6-tris-(4-carboxyphenoxy)-1,3,5-triazine) and [Zn3(L)2(H2O)2]·3H2O·TEA·2DMF (2), with single- and double-(6,3)-layer structures, respectively, have been synthesized by the reaction of Cd(Zn) nitrate with H3L in a mixed solvent of DMF, ethanol, and H2O. TGA and PXRD analysis showed that compounds 1 and 2 were thermally stable up to 250 °C. Gas sorption measurement indicates that compounds 1 and 2 exhibited selective sorption capabilities for CO2 over CH4 and N2 and could adsorb considerable amounts of H2 at low temperature. These two compounds also showed high sorption capabilities for water, methanol, and ethanol vapors. The highest adsorption amounts of compounds 1 and 2 are 168.8 and 257.3 cc/g for H2O, 175.1 and 140.8 cc/g for methanol, and 91.7 and 76.2 cc/g for ethanol, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum luminescence emission peaks of compounds 1 and 2 exhibit blue shifts of 138 and 132 nm, respectively, compared to the free ligand.

Using SBA-15/KIT-5/KIT-6 as the hard templates, the mesoporous SnO2 nanomaterials with different structures were synthesized by nanocasting. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and nitrogen adsorption isotherms were used to testify their structure characteristics. These mesoporous SnO2 nanomaterials showed high specific surface areas (57–96 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.17–0.27 cm3 g−1). The nanopore of these templates makes the nanosize particle of the final mesoporous SnO2 nanomaterials (4–9 nm) at last. The sensing properties of acetone, ethyl alcohol and methyl alcohol were investigated. The response of SnO2-15, SnO2-5, and SnO2-6 are 17.0, 19.5, and 16.1, respectively as the concentration of ethyl alcohol on 200 ppm. The sensitivity of SnO2-5 is 28.2 as the concentration of acetone was increased to 200 ppm. With the large surface area, high pore volume, and nanosized particles (close to 2 L = 6 nm of SnO2), the SnO2-5 show four fold enhancement in sensitivity compared to commercial SnO2 powder and low detection limit (even at 200 ppb). The surface area and particle size play a significant party in the gas response. With the large surface area and smallest particle size, SnO2-5 shows the highest sensitivity of all. These mesoporous nanomaterials show well potential application on the gas response.

Hierarchical porous TiO2-bioglasses (TiO2-BGs) with the macropore with the size of 30–50 μm and the mesopore with the diameter of 4.4–5.6 nm have been synthesized through the evaporation-induced self-assembly method. The corn stalks were used as the macroporous template and P123 as the mesoporous template in the process. The chemical and physical properties of the hierarchical porous TiO2-BGs before and after immersion in simulated fluid (SBF) were evaluated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, nitrogen adsorption–desorption, and Energy dispersive spectrometer. The effect of TiO2 content on the formation of surface hydroxyapatite and drug release profiles of the fabricated TiO2-BGs in SBF were investigated in detail. It was found that macroporous-mesoporous TiO2-bioglasses (MM TiO2-BGs) exhibited a good ability of surface hydroxyapatite formation comparing with macroporous-mesoporous bioglasses. It took only 3 h for the MM TiO2-BGs to be covered with the hydroxyapatite layer. It can be ascribed to the present of Ti–OH which may improve the spontaneous growth of apatite by consuming the calcium and phosphate ions from SBF. Additionally, MM TiO2-BGs also showed good drug sustained release profiles. Therefore, the multifunctional MM TiO2-BGs reported here could be a good candidate for application in bone tissue engineering.

A novel pH-sensitive drug release system has been established by coating Eudragit (Eud) on drug-loaded mesoporous silica (MS) tablets. The release rate of ibuprofen (IBU) from the MS was retarded by coating with Eudragit S-100, and the higher retardation was due to the increase of coating concentration and the coating layers. The target position of the release depended on the pH of the release medium, which was confirmed by the drug release from IBU/MS/Eud increasing rapidly with the change of medium pH from 1.2 to 7.4. This drug delivery system could prohibit irritant drug from leaking in the stomach and make it only release in the intestine. The loaded and unloaded drug samples were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), N2 adsorption/desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

The mesoporous carbon fibers, of about 400 to 900 nm in diameter, have been synthesized by an electrospinning method with PF resin and PVP as carbon sources and triblock copolymer Pluronic P123 and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as mesoporous templates. All materials have large surface areas (1215–2092 m2 g−1), high pore volumes (0.66–1.37 cm3 g−1), and mesoporous structure (with pore sizes of 2.31–2.64, 3.79–3.86, and 5.68–5.70 nm). The adsorption capability of four dyes, methylthionine chloride, methyl orange, rhodamine B, and congo red have been investigated. All the adsorption isotherms fit the typical Langmuir adsorption model well. The mesoporous carbon fibers show high adsorption capacity for these bulky dye molecules. The adsorption amount is mainly determined by the surface area, pore size and the structure/size matching between adsorbent and adsorbate. With the highest BET surface area, C-3.5 (with 3.5 g TEOS) exhibits the highest adsorption amount (1044 mg g−1).