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Uniform urchin-like α-FeOOH hollow spheres assembled from nanoneedles have been synthesized via a facile and green one-pot method. By simply adjusting the amount of glycerol in the reaction system, hierarchical urchin-like α-FeOOH solid spheres or hollow spheres can be obtained. When evaluated for the potential use in water treatment, it is found that the as-obtained uniform urchin-like α-FeOOH hollow spheres exhibit excellent capability for removing both organic dye and heavy metal ions in waste water.

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We report a new strategy to synthesize core-shell metal nanoparticles with an interior, Raman tag-encoded nanogap by taking advantage of nanoparticle-templated self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers and localized metal precursor reduction by redox-active polymer brushes. Of particular interest for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) is that the nanogap size can be tailored flexibly, with the sub-2 nm nanogap leading to the highest SERS enhancement. Our results have further demonstrated that surface functionalization of the nanogapped Au nanoparticles with aptamer targeting ligands allows for specific recognition and ultrasensitive detection of cancer cells. The general applicability of this new synthetic strategy, coupled with recent advances in controlled wet-chemical synthesis of functional nanocrystals, opens new avenues to multifunctional core-shell nanoparticles with integrated optical, electronic, and magnetic properties.