This personal account highlights a part of the work done over the years in our group towards directed synthesis of morphologically controlled nanostructures. We begin with our efforts on the synthesis of families of nanostructured metal oxides and metal oxalates of well‐defined morphology using low temperature microemulsion and hydrothermal techniques. The parameters that govern the morphology in these syntheses e. g. choice of solvent and temperature are described. We then discuss nanostructures with core‐shell architecture and specifically their utilization to harvest visible light for photocatalysis and photoelectrochemical applications. The techniques described to utilize visible light include sensitizing wide bandgap semiconductors using 1) appropriate narrow bandgap materials and 2) metals that have surface plasmon resonance active bands. The reports are classified according to morphology with spherical, cubes and rods discussed in separate sections. A discussion of recent reports by other groups on core‐shell structures of similar composition as well as future directions and perspectives are presented at the end.

中文翻译：

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可见光光催化的核壳型半导体异质结构

此个人说明重点介绍了我们小组多年来在形态控制的纳米结构的定向合成中所做的一部分工作。我们开始使用低温微乳液和水热技术合成形态明确的纳米结构金属氧化物和金属草酸盐。这些合成中控制形态的参数e。G。描述了溶剂和温度的选择。然后，我们将讨论具有核壳结构的纳米结构，尤其是它们如何用于收集可见光以用于光催化和光电化学应用。所描述的利用可见光的技术包括使用1）合适的窄带隙材料和2）具有表面等离子体激元共振活性带的金属来敏化宽带隙半导体。这些报告根据形态进行了分类，其中球形，立方形和棒形在单独的部分中进行了讨论。最后，讨论了其他小组关于类似组成的核壳结构的报告以及未来的方向和观点。