Monodisperse manganese oxide honeycomb and hollow nanospheres have been prepared facilely at room temperature by varying the molar ratio of KMnO 4 and oleic acid. These new nanomaterials were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDS, TEM, and BET measurements. They had robust nanostructures and were stable even after ultrasonic treatment (40 kHz, 120 W) for 30 min. A plausible mechanism of the formation of manganese oxide nanostructures was proposed. The manganese oxide nanomaterials showed high catalytic activities for oxidative decomposition of formaldehyde at low temperatures. Complete conversion of formaldehyde to CO 2 and H 2 O could be achieved, and harmful byproducts were not detected in effluent gases. The catalytic activity of manganese oxide hollow nanospheres was much higher than that of honeycomb nanospheres, although the surface area of the latter was nearly 2 times as high as that of the former. The mechanism of such morphologydependent catalytic activity was discussed in detail. The catalytic activities of the obtained manganese oxide nanospheres were also significantly higher than those of previously reported manganese oxide octahedral molecular sieve (OMS-2) nanorods, MnO x powders, and alumina-supported manganese-palladium oxide catalysts. Potential applications and future research efforts were proposed.

Conventional photodynamic therapy (PDT)'s clinical application is limited by depth of penetration by light. To address the issue, we have recently developed X-ray induced photodynamic therapy (X-PDT) which utilizes X-ray as an energy source to activate a PDT process. In addition to breaking the shallow tissue penetration dogma, our studies found more efficient tumor cell killing with X-PDT than with radiotherapy (RT) alone. The mechanisms behind the cytotoxicity, however, have not been elucidated. In the present study, we investigate the mechanisms of action of X-PDT on cancer cells. Our results demonstrate that X-PDT is more than just a PDT derivative but is essentially a PDT and RT combination. The two modalities target different cellular components (cell membrane and DNA, respectively), leading to enhanced therapy effects. As a result, X-PDT not only reduces short-term viability of cancer cells but also their clonogenecity in the long-run. From this perspective, X-PDT can also be viewed as a unique radiosensitizing method, and as such it affords clear advantages over RT in tumor therapy, especially for radioresistant cells. This is demonstrated not only in vitro but also in vivo with H1299 tumors that were either subcutaneously inoculated or implanted into the lung of mice. These findings and advances are of great importance to the developments of X-PDT as a novel treatment modality against cancer.

Nanoprobes for MRI and optical imaging are demonstrated. Gd@C‐dots possess strong fluorescence and can effectively enhance signals on T1‐weighted MR images. The nanoprobes have low toxicity, and, despite a relatively large size, can be efficiently excreted by renal clearance from the host after systemic injection.