The development of hollow multishelled structure: from the innovation of synthetic method to the discovery of new characteristics

Hollow multishelled structure (HoMS) is one of the most promising multifunctional structures. The high complexity of its structure makes the general and controllable synthesis of HoMS rather challenging. By integration of multidisciplinary knowledge, a great achievement in HoMSs has been obtained in the past decade. Especially, the developed sequential templating approach has significantly boomed the progress of HoMS in composition and structure diversity and application area. The implementation of the temporal-spatial ordering in HoMS makes it indispensable in solving the key scientific problems in energy conversion, catalysis and drug delivery areas. Further development in HoMSs with novel intricate structures will bring new understandings. In this review, we systematically introduce the development history of HoMSs, summarize the inspiration inherited from the previous research on hollow structures, and discuss the milestones in the development of HoMSs, with a focus on the sequential templating approach for HoMS fabrication, attractive temporal-spatial ordering property and dynamic smart behavior for advanced applications. We hope to reveal the inherent relationship between the precise synthesis of HoMS and its highly tunable compositional and structural characteristics, and point out its future direction to boost HoMS area further.