https://www.selleckchem.com/products/r428.html TiO2 is a popular photocatalyst due to its low cost and easy availability. Herein, we for the first time synthesized carbon coated TiO2 nano-dendrites (C-TiO2 NDs) using a simple hydrothermal method without high-temperature sintering, in which citric acid is used as an adjuvant. This unique dendritic structure consisting of a single small hexagonal piece greatly increases the BET specific area (116.386 m2 g-1) and pore size (0.418 cm3 g-1), increasing the photocatalytic active site and facilitate efficient capture of light. Besides, compared with the TiO2 nanobelts (NBs) prepared by sintering method, the surface of C-TiO2 NDs prepared by hydrothermal method with citric acid are coated with carbon layers, which make C-TiO2 NDs exhibit stronger photocatalytic hydrogen evolution performance under simulated solar light irradiation due to the presence of carbon coatings promoting electron-hole separation and absorbing NIR light. Hollow silica particles are desirable for numerous applications, however, designing hollow silica materials with varying hollow structures and shapes remains a significant challenge. Herein, a strategy for the precisely controlled synthesis of hexagonal-shaped hollow silica plate (HHSP) particles was successfully prepared via a sol-gel method at room temperature, using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) as a silica precursor and zinc oxide (ZnO) particles as a colloidal template. The effect of reaction time was carried out to control the structure and morphology of HHSP particles, and the thickness of silica shell can be tuned in the range from 12.2 to 43.2 nm by adjusting the TEOS/ZnO molar ratios. In addition, the polymer/HHSP composite thin films were prepared using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrix and surface modified HHSP particles by grafting silane coupling agents. High transmittance values were observed (>95%) for the composite thin films (5 μm in thickness, 0.1-1.0 wt% HHSP) in the ultra