Hierarchical Core-shell Structure Research Articles

In situ construction of core-shell NiFe-LDH@ZnIn2S4 direct Z-scheme heterojunction for facilitating photocatalytic H2 evolution

The development of photocatalysts with non-noble metals and the effective separation of photoexcited carriers is a significant strategy for accelerating surface reaction kinetics and promoting water splitting to produce H2. Herein, an exquisite core-shell NiFe-LDH@ZnIn2S4 heterojunction photocatalyst was constructed by in situ decoration of ultrathin ZnIn2S4 nanosheets on the surface of the flower-like NiFe-LDH microsphere. The synthesized 3D hierarchical NiFe@ZIS-25 composite exhibits enhanced photocatalytic H2 evolution activity, reaching 9.12mmol·h-1·g-1, which is 2.52-fold higher than pure ZnIn2S4. The significant improvement in H2 evolution performance could be attributed to the hierarchical core-shell structure of the NiFe@ZIS-25 photocatalyst, which enhanced the light capture ability. In addition, the interfacial coupling effect of ZnIn2S4 and NiFe-LDH is beneficial to the migration of carriers. More importantly, the construction of Z-scheme heterojunction efficiently promotes the fast translation of photogenerated carriers while preserving a stronger reduction potential to achieve H2 evolution. This work elucidates a rational strategy to develop efficient photocatalysts with hierarchical core-shell structures for water splitting.

L-Cysteine-Tuned the Hierarchical Structure Based on Benzimidazole: Synthesis, Characterization, and Application in Ratiometric Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay.

Efficient and robust electrochemiluminescence (ECL) emitters are crucial for enhancing the ECL immunosensor sensitivity. This study introduces a novel ECL emitter, CoBIM/Cys, featuring a hierarchical core-shell structure. The core of the structure is created through the swift coordination between the sulfhydryl and carboxyl groups of l-cysteine (l-Cys) and cobalt ions (Co2+), while the shell is constructed by sequentially coordinating benzimidazole (BIM) with Co2+. This design yields a greater specific surface area and a more intricate porous structure compared to CoBIM, markedly enhancing mass transfer and luminophore accessibility. Moreover, the l-Cys and Co2+ core introduces Co-S and Co-O catalytic sites, which improve the catalytic decomposition of H2O2, leading to an increased production of hydroperoxyl radicals (OOH•). This mechanism substantially amplifies the ECL performance. Leveraging the competitive interaction between isoluminol and BIM for OOH• during ECL emission, we developed a ratiometric immunosensor for cardiac troponin I (cTnI) detection. This immunosensor demonstrates a remarkably broad detection range (1 pg mL-1 to 10 ng mL-1), a low detection limit (0.4 pg mL-1), and exceptional reproducibility and specificity.

Hierarchical core-shell structured CoZn-MOFs derived materials anode with raspberry-like shape for high-performance lithium storage

Significant progress had been made in various fields with transition metal oxide electrode materials, particularly in battery materials where structural control played a crucial role in enhancing their electrochemical properties. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the potential of a raspberry-like hierarchical core-shell structure derived from Co–Zn MOF as anode materials by varying concentration of reaction solution in hydrothermal method. The hierarchical raspberry-like hollow shell structure was beneficial to expose more active sites and reduced the diffusion distance of Li+ to the internal electroactive sites, improving the overall electrical conductivity of the electrode by full contact with carbon. Carbon nanotubes were incorporated into more suitable core-shell structure. They were uniformly coated the hollow sphere and filled inside of that to form a carbon skeleton. Specifically, the carbon nanotubes inside of the hollow sphere supported the shell not to collapse. This mitigated volume expansion during the cycling process, maintains structure stability, and allowed for rearrangement to occur during cycling to achieve a high specific capacity. Furthermore, the carbon nanotubes inside and outside of the hollow sphere created a high-density interface that enhanced interfacial polarisation and accelerated the rate of Li+ passage during cycling. These effects had resulted in an improvement in the material's performance. It is noteworthy that the specific capacity attains 1050 mAh g-1 when exposed to a current density of 0.2 A g-1. Notably, even after conducting 500 cycles at a current density of 0.5 A g-1, the specific capacity remains stable at 652 mAh g-1.

In Situ Creation of Surface Defects on Pd@NiPd with Core-shell Hierarchical Structure Toward Boosting Electrocatalytic Activity.

A deep insight into surface structural evolution of the catalyst is a challenging issue to reveal the structure-activity relationship. In this contribution, based on a surface alloying strategy, the dual-functional Pd@NiPd catalyst with a unique core-shell hierarchical structure is developed through selective crystal growth, surface cocrystallization, directional self-assembly, and reduction process. The surface defects are created in situ on the outer NiPd alloy layer in the electrochemical redox processes, which endow the Pd@NiPd catalyst with excellent electrocatalytic activity of hydrogen generation reaction (HER) and oxygen generation reaction (OER) in alkaline media. The optimal Pd@NiPd-2 catalyst requires an overpotential of only 18 mV that is far lower than Pt/C benchmark (43 mV) at the current density of 10 mA cm-2 for the HER, and 210 mV that is far lower than RuO2 benchmark (430 mV) at 50 mA cm-2 for the OER. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that the outstanding electrocatalytic activity is originated from the creation of surface defect structure that induces a significant reduction in the adsorption and dissociation energy barriers of H2O molecules in the HER and a decrease in the conversion energy from O* to OOH* that resulted from the synergy of two adjacent Pd sites by forming O-bridge. This work affords a typical paradigm for exploiting efficient catalysts and investigating the dependence of electrocatalytic activity on the surface structural evolution.

Hierarchically structured Mo1–2C/Co-encased carbon nanotubes with multi-component synergy as bifunctional oxygen electrocatalyst for rechargeable Zn-air battery

The development of efficient and durable non-precious metal-based bifunctional oxygen electrocatalysts is pivotal in realizing cost-effective and high-performance rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries (ZABs). In this study, a straightforward hydrothermal-melamine-assisted carbonization method is employed to synthesize a hierarchical core-shell structure comprising Mo2C/MoC intertwined with cobalt-incorporated N-doped carbon nanotubes (Mo2C/MoC/Co@CNTs). The synergy between Mo2C/MoC and Co@CNTs is harnessed to achieve remarkable bifunctional OER/ORR activities, as evidenced by a small potential gap (ΔE = Ej = 10 – E1/2) of 0.74 V between OER and ORR. When integrated into a liquid ZAB, the assembled battery delivers a remarkable peak power density of 134 mW cm−2 and exhibits a robust cycling performance, sustaining continuous operation for 275 h at a current density of 10 mA cm−2. This work not only presents a strategic approach to developing electrocatalysts with specific components, but also underscores the significance of multi-component synergy in electrocatalytic applications.

Yolk–shell Ni–Co bimetallic nitride/oxide heterostructures as high‐performance electrode of all‐solid‐state supercapacitor

Hierarchical core–shell structure is benefit for the fast diffusion and bulk storage of electron/ion while metal nitrides (MN) exhibit metal‐like behavior with excellent conductivity. Herein, nickel cobalt glycerate solid spheres (NiCo‐G) and nickel cobalt glycerate yolk–shell structure (NiCo‐GYS) were successfully synthesized via solvothermal reactions, accompanied by annealing using urea as a cheap and convenient nitrogen source to obtain metal nitride/bimetallic oxide core–shell heterostructure (NiCoNO). Excellent specific capacitance of 1878 F g−1 at 1 A g−1 is displayed by the prepared NiCoNO. Amazingly, the distinct core–shell construction guarantees high stability during the charge/discharge operation. NiCoNO maintains an 83.9% specific capacitance after 5000 cycles at 10 A g−1. Furthermore, the all‐solid‐state hybrid supercapacitor was assembled using NiCoNO cathode and active carbon (AC) anode components. The device has an excellent capacitive retention rate of 81.1% after 5000 cycles at 10 A g−1 and a good energy density of 64.2 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 900 Wh kg−1. A light‐emitting diode (LED) bulb can be lighted for 3 min, indicating the promising practical application prospect of the supercapacitor.

Fire-retardant braided electronic rope with a hierarchical core-shell structure for fire rescue operations

Effective rope rescue is crucial for evacuating individuals trapped in high-rise fires and for ensuring their safety in extreme fire environments. However, conventional fire rescue ropes often prioritize mechanical properties and flame retardancy, neglecting the crucial aspects of escape monitoring and position acquisition. Herein, we present a facile strategy to fabricate flame-retardant braided electronic rope (FBER) with a core-shell structure by large-scale braiding techniques. The pressure-sensing performance of the FBER was optimized by altering the braiding structure, which relies on the cross-contact between the core-braided composite yarns (CBCYs) at the sensing point. The unique structural design of FBER effectively prevents thermal transfer, ensuring pressure-sensing stability in extreme environments. Our results demonstrate that the FBER exhibits high sensitivity, rapid response, and excellent durability over 3500 cycles at 200 °C. The optimized FBER can be integrated into fire rescue detection systems for real-time escape monitoring, position acquisition, and safety detection during fire rescue operations. The scalable and multifunctional design of the FBER can significantly aid the development of fire rescue ropes.

Selective efficient photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics and direct Z-type migration pathway for hierarchical core-shell TiO2/g-C3N4 composites.

Constructing superior Z-type photocatalytic heterojunction is beneficial to effectively enlarge interface contact, improve the photo-generated carrier separation rate, and retain the high redox ability. In this work, we designed a hierarchical core-shell g-C3N4/TiO2 structure to build Z-type heterojunction via combining simple template method and pyrolysis process. A close-knit Z-type heterojunction was constructed using TiO2 as a thick core and g-C3N4 as an ultra-thin shell. The effects of lamp source, wavelength, tetracycline (TC) concentration, and photocatalyst dose on the degradation performance on TC of g-C3N4/TiO2 were inspected. 0.1TiO2/g-C3N4 photocatalyst had the best degradation rate and highest removal rate within 30min, and its degradation rate was about 49, 23, and 5 times than pure g-C3N4, TiO2, and commercial TiO2/g-C3N4 in respect. Moreover, compared with degradation ability under Xenon lamp, LED irradiation for g-C3N4/TiO2composites showed aremarkable selectivedegradation. The fast and efficient Z-type transfer pathway of 0.1g-C3N4/TiO2 was realized by forming an optimized interface and abundant surface active sites ascribed to the combined action of thick TiO2 core and ultra-thin g-C3N4 shell. In addition, the degradation intermediates were analyzed by LC-MS and suggested pathways of degradation. The work could provide novel design concept to obtain reliable Z-type photocatalysts with hierarchical core-shell structure applied in degradation of antibioticwastewater.

Interface engineering to develop heterogeneous spindle-shaped FeS2/NiS2@C nanorods for high-efficient microwave attenuation

With the rapid development of 5G communication technology, the accompanied radiation pollution by electromagnetic waves has become increasingly serious. Therefore, high-performance wave-absorbing materials need to be developed. In this paper, spindle-shaped hierarchical porous composites based on iron metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) coated with hydroxides (Fe3O4/Ni@C, FeS2/NiS2@C, and FeSe2/NiSe2@C) were synthesized. The porous structure with a large specific surface area promotes multiple scattering and reflection of electromagnetic waves, and the unique hierarchical core-shell structure induces interfacial polarization, which is beneficial to improving the absorption of electromagnetic radiation. The doping of heteroatoms can enhance the relaxation process of interfacial polarization and improve the dielectric properties to optimize the impedance-matching characteristics of the composites. In particular, the synergistic effect between the magnetic carbon multicomponent, sulfur doping, and hierarchical porous structure of the FeS2/NiS2@C composite significantly improves the microwave absorption performance of the material, and a minimum reflection loss (RLmin) of −59.4 dB at 3.2 mm with a filler loading of 20 wt% was obtained. This work provides a new way for the development of MOF-derived hierarchical magnetic carbon composites doped with strongly polarized elements.

Chemical Resistant Yarn with Hierarchical Core–Shell Structure for Safety Monitoring and Tunable Thermal Management in High-Risk Environments

Chemical resistant textiles are vital for safeguarding humans against chemical hazards in various settings, such as industrial production, chemical accidents, laboratory activities, and road transportation. However, the ideal integration of chemical resistance, thermal and moisture management, and wearer condition monitoring in conventional chemically protective textiles remains challenging. Herein, the design, manufacturing, and use of stretchable hierarchical core–shell yarns (HCSYs) for integrated chemical resistance, moisture regulation, and smart sensing textiles are demonstrated. These yarns contain helically elastic spandex, wrapped silver-plated nylon, and surface-structured polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) yarns and are designed and manufactured based on a scalable fabrication process. In addition to their ideal chemical resistance performance, HCSYs can function as multifunctional stretchable electronics for real-time human motion monitoring and as the basic element of intelligent textiles. Furthermore, a desirable dynamic thermoregulation function is achieved by exploiting the fabric structure with stretching modulation. Our HCSYs may provide prospective opportunities for the future development of smart protective textiles with high durability, flexibility, and scalability.

Synergistic effect in the ZIF67-derived core shell structure towards the improved electrochemical performances in lithium-sulfur batteries

A ZIF-67 core could be grown within the hollow carbon sphere to further develop the hierarchical core shell structure, which displays synergistic effects as sulfur host in lithium sulfur batteries (LSB). The carbon shell with N active sites exhibits strong anchoring capability towards lithium polysulfide (LiPS), and the electrochemical conversion kinetic is favorably accelerated by the ZIF-67 derived carbon core. By virtue of the unique core shell structure and advantageous active species of the host material, the resulting composite cathode exhibits the high initial reversible capacity of 1308 mAh g−1 at 0.1C and outstanding long-term stability at 2C with a mere 0.039 % decay rate over 600 cycles. This work may shed a light on rational designing of novel sulfur host material towards the synergistic improvement of electrochemical performances of LSB.

Highly stable hierarchical core-shell structure CuMn0.5Co2O4@CC with self-regulating electronic and conductivity for its improved OER performance

Improving the catalytic activity and long-term stability of catalysts have always been the goal of its application. The structure stability and good electrical conductivity of catalysts are the key to OER performance, which have been challenge for application of catalysts. In the paper, we designed an in-situ growth of hierarchical core-shell structure CuMn0.5Co2O4@CC with superior conductivity directly as the catalytic electrode for improved OER performance. The well-standing CuMn0.5Co2O4 nanoneedles with mesoporous structure entirely encapsulated on the carbon fibers, exposing a large special surface area and structural stability, while carbon fibers improved its electrical conductivity. Meanwhile, the richer oxygen vacancies and self-regulating electronic structure by the diversification of the metal oxidation state in the catalyst would promote the OER activity and stability. Benefitting from these merits, the requiring overpotential of CuMn0.5Co2O4@CC was 189 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and the Tafel slop value was 64.1 mV⋅dec−1, which was lower than that of CuMn0.5Co2O4//CC (η10 = 337 mV and Tafel slop value of 113.9 mV⋅dec−1). In addition, the CuMn0.5Co2O4@CC had a competitive stability of with the current retention rate of 95.3 % after 1000 cycles. The present work provide a useful attempt to construct highly catalytic active and durably stable metal oxide composite catalysts.

Self-supporting hierarchical Co3O4-nanowires@NiO-nanosheets core-shell nanostructure on carbon foam to form efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst for overall water splitting

Designing cost-effective and robust bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) is highly desired in hydrogen production from overall water splitting, but still suffers great challenges due to the sluggish catalytic OER/HER kinetics. In this paper, a surface/defect engineering strategy is developed to synthesize three-dimensional (3D) carbon foam (CF)-supported unique hierarchical Co3O4 nanowires@NiO nanosheets core–shell nanostructured catalyst (NiO@Co3O4/CF) with rich oxygen-vacancies as a novel bifunctional catalyst for alkaline water splitting electrolysis. Benefited from the synergy of the 3D hierarchical core–shell structure and rich oxygen vacancies, the as-obtained NiO@Co3O4/CF shows both excellent OER (η200 = 325 mV, η500 = 374 mV) and HER (η10 = 104 mV) activities with low Tafel slopes (64.26 mV dec−1 for OER and 109.14 mV dec−1 for HER, respectively) and outstanding stability. A simple overall water splitting electrolysis cell assembled by this bifunctional NiO@Co3O4/CF as both OER and HER catalysts requires only a cell voltage of 1.53 V to obtain the current density of 10 mA cm−2 and displays a long-term stability. This work has successfully developed an approach for rational design and novel synthesis of metal oxide hybrids as bifunctional electrocatalysts with high activity and stability for overall water splitting.

Hierarchical porous CS@Ce-MnO2 as cathode for energy-dense and long-cycling flexible aqueous zinc-ion batteries

Aqueous zinc-ion batteries (ZIBs) have been considered one of the most promising flexible chemical power sources, because of their affordable cost, absolute security, and lightweight. However, the development of flexible aqueous ZIBs has been hindered by cathode materials due to their unsatisfied capacity, unstable structure, and ambiguous electrochemical energy storage mechanism. To address the above issues, a high-performance manganese cerium-doped dioxide-based core–shell hybrid structure cathode (CS@Ce-MnO2) has been successfully prepared via a facile low-temperature liquid-phase reaction strategy. Benefit from the delicately designed hierarchical carbon spheres core and cerium-doped manganese dioxide nanosheets shell structure, the capacity and stability of CS@Ce-MnO2 based flexible ZIBs has been dramatically improved, and the origin of the improved electrochemical performance and storage mechanism was demonstrated by electrochemical methods and ex-site x-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The principal reason for the high reversible specific capacity is the plausible Zn2+ and H+co-insertion/extraction, while the porous structure of the carbon spheres contributes to the improved electron conduction and ion transport in the MnO2 matrix. This work provides a new opportunity for high-performance flexible aqueous zinc-ion batteries.

Dual Pd-acid sites confined in a hierarchical core-shell structure for hydrogenation of nitrobenzene.

A core-shell structured Pd@TS-1@meso-SiO2 catalyst with confined Pd nanometals has been fabricated by one-pot synthesis, impregnation method and sol-gel method. With the promotion of acid sites and protection of mesoporous silica shell, Pd@TS-1@meso-SiO2 shows higher activity than commercial comparison and higher stability than sample without mesoporous silica shell in the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. The schematic illustration of the synergy effect is also proposed.

Biohybrid Urchin-Like ZnO-Based Microspheres with Tunable Hierarchical Structures and Enhanced Photoelectrocatalytic Properties.

Microorganisms have attracted much attention to act as biotemplates for fabricating micro/nanostructured functional particles. However, it is still challenging to produce tunable hierarchical particles based on microorganisms with intricate architectures and superior stability. Herein, a novel strategy is developed to fabricate biohybrid urchin-like magnetic ZnO microspheres based on Chlorella (Ch.) with tunable hierarchical core-shell structures. Using Ch. cells as microspherical templates, Fe3 O4 nanoparticles and ZnO nanorod (NR) arrays are deposited in sequence to form the final biohybrid heterostructure microspheres (Ch.@Fe3 O4 @ZnO NRs). Ordered growth and structural regulation of 3D ZnO NR arrays are achieved via a facile and controllable manner. Compared with the prepared microspheres with diverse structure configurations of ZnO shells, the Ch.@Fe3 O4 @ZnO NRs possess excellent light absorption and photoelectrocatalysis performance toward tetracycline degradation (normalized apparent rate constant, k = 366.3 h-1 g-1 ), which is significantly larger than that of ZnO nanoflower/nanoparticle loaded types. It also proves that the synergistic enhancement of well-oriented ZnO NR arrays, heterojunction structures, and biomass features is the fundamental reason for outstanding photoelectrocatalytic activity. Due to the remarkable stability and versatility, this work provides abundant opportunities to construct biohybrid multilevel micro/nanostructures with significant potentials for practical applications.

A trimode textile designed with hierarchical core-shell nanofiber structure for all-weather radiative personal thermal management

Radiative thermal management textile regulates reflectivity, emissivity, and transmissivity to achieve different thermal functions without any electrical or chemical energy consumption. Despite significant advances, achieving effective radiative cooling in high humidity weather and improving textile resistance to temperature shocks remain challenges. Here, we exploit a novel trimode all-weather personal thermal management textile (TAWT) that combines radiative cooling, solar heating, heat storage and release of phase change. High solar reflectance of 96.6% and Mid-infrared emittance of 93.2% of TAWT in cooling mode generate a temperature drop of 13.1℃ and 9.2℃ compared to bare skin and traditional textile. The unique solar absorptivity of 82.0% and low infrared emissivity of 67.8% in heating mode prevents overcooling by 10.9℃ compared with bare skin. The large heat enthalpy density of 81.1 J/g created an additional temperature drop of 3.9℃ in high humidity weather, which effectively makes up for the shortage of radiative cooling capacity. Meanwhile, the heat storage and release of phase change enhance the resistance of the human body to temperature shocks. In addition to thermal management capabilities, TAWT also exhibits favourable wearability. Given these attractive advantages, TAWT would offer advance insight for the development of functional textiles.

Synergistic S-doped biomass carbon and N-doped carbon for construction of interlayer expanded MoS2 core/shell nanospheres for potassium and sodium storage

The construction of high-performance anode materials is the critical technology for promoting the development and application for potassium-ion batteries (PIBs). Herein, we present the synthesis of S-doped biomass carbon/MoS2@N-doped carbon core-shell nanospheres with the expanded interlayer of 0.99 nm (S-BC/E-MoS2@N-C) via the combined hydrothermal and polymerized method. In the hydrothermal process, we firstly find that the biomass carbon is heteroatomic doped with sulfur in the hydrothermal process by the sulfur source for forming MoS2. The polymerized N-doped carbon is forming on surface of MoS2 nanosheets for construction sandwiched core-shell structure. The N-doped carbon layer and S-doped biomass carbon use cooperatively to establish an omnibearing conductive network on MoS2 by internal and external integration. In such a unique structure, high conductivity and excellent structural stability are achieved in the S-BC/E-MoS2@N-C composite. Consequently, the S-BC/E-MoS2@N-C electrodes exhibit superior potassium storage performances including enhanced rate capability and good cycled stability with high reversible capacities (156.6 mA h g−1 after 650 cycles at 100 mA g−1). And for sodium ion batteries, the S-BC/E-MoS2@N-C electrode delivers an initial reversible capacity of 538.9 mAh g−1 at 200 mA g−1 and maintains 371.1 mAh g−1 after 200 cycles. This work shed a kind of double heteratomic doping and core-shell hierarchical structure of MoS2 anodes in potassium/sodium storage.

A novel non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor based on NiS/Co3S4@h-Ni NWs core-shell electrode for glucose detection in human serum

To obtain a non-enzymatic electrochemical sensor with good performance such as sensitivity, selectivity, and stability, fine-tuning and rational design of the electrocatalytic material are essential. In this study, a novel catalyst (NiS/Co3S4@h-Ni NWs) with a hierarchical core-shell structure was synthesized in two steps to be used as a non-enzymatic electrode for glucose detection. First, hierarchical nickel nanowires, h-Ni NWs (the core), were prepared by the reduction of Ni2+ ions by hydrazine N2H4, and then the h-Ni NWs are covered with NiS/Co3S4 (the shell) by the hydrothermal method. The resulting NiS/Co3S4@h-Ni NWs showed a core-shell structure with abundant nanotides on the surface and good crystallinity. The prepared sensor exhibited two linearity ranges in the glucose concentration ranges of 0.001–6.57 mM and 6.57–13.32 mM with a sensitivity of 1171.9 μA mM−1 cm−2 and 316.5 μA mM−1.cm−2, respectively, and with a low detection limit of 0.13 μM (S/N = 3) due to its developed core-shell structure that provides excellent conductivity, an efficient mesoporous network, and suitable channels for rapid ion/electron transfer for electrocatalytic activity. In addition, the sensor also showed exceptional selectivity against coexistence interference, good long-term stability, reproducibility, and repeatability. All these excellent results show that the prepared NiS/Co3S4@h-Ni NWs catalyst can be a promising electrode material for glucose detection.

Template‐Free Synthesis of Phosphorus‐Doped g‐C3N4 Micro‐Tubes with Hierarchical Core–Shell Structure for High‐Efficient Visible Light Responsive Catalysis

This work reports a new form of tubular g-C3 N4 that is featured with a hierarchical core-shell structure introduced with phosphorous elements and nitrogen vacancies. The core is self-arranged with randomly stacked g-C3 N4 ultra-thin nanosheets along the axial direction. This unique structure significantly benefits electron/hole separation and visible-light harvesting. A superior performance for the photodegradation of rhodamine B and tetracycline hydrochloride is demonstrated under low intensity visible light. This photocatalyst also exhibits an excellent hydrogen evolution rate (3631 µmol h-1 g-1 ) under visible light. Realizing this structure just requires the introduction of phytic acid into the solution of melamine and urea during hydrothermal treatment. In this complex system, phytic acid plays as the electron donor to stabilize melamine/cyanuric acid precursor via coordination interaction. Calcination at 550°C directly renders the transformation of precursor into such hierarchical structure. This process is facile and shows the strong potential toward mass production for real applications.