Programmed Cell Death-Related Gene Signature Associated with Prognosis and Immune Infiltration and the Roles of HMOX1 in the Proliferation and Apoptosis were Investigated in Uveal Melanoma.

BACKGROUND: Uveal melanoma (UVM) is the most common primary ocular malignancy, with a wide range of symptoms and outcomes. The programmed cell death (PCD) plays an important role in tumor development, diagnosis, and prognosis. There is still no research on the relationship between PCD-related genes and UVM. A novel PCD-associated prognostic model is urgently needed to improve treatment strategies. OBJECTIVE: We aim to screen PCD-related prognostic signature and investigate its proliferation ability and apoptosis in UVM cells. METHODS: The clinical information and RNA-seq data of the UVM patients were collected from the TCGA cohort. All the patients were classified using consensus clustering by the selected PCD-related genes. After univariate Cox regression and PPI network analysis, the prognostic PCD-related genes were then submitted to the LASSO regression analysis to build a prognostic model. The level of immune infiltration of 8-PCD signature in high- and low-risk patients was analyzed using xCell. The prediction on chemotherapy and immunotherapy response in UVM patients was assessed by GDSC and TIDE algorithm. CCK-8, western blot and Annexin V-FITC/PI staining were used to explore the roles of HMOX1 in UVM cells. RESULTS: A total of 8-PCD signature was constructed and the risk score of the PCD signature was negatively correlated with the overall survival, indicating strong predictive ability and independent prognostic value. The risk score was positively correlated with CD8 Tcm, CD8 Tem and Th2 cells. Immune cells in high-risk group had poorer overall survival. The drug sensitivity demonstrated that cisplatin might impact the progression of UVM and better immunotherapy responsiveness in the high-risk group. Finally, Overespression HMOX1 (OE-HMOX1) decreased the cell viability and induced apoptosis in UVM cells. Recuse experiment results showed that ferrostatin-1 (fer-1) protected MP65 cells from apoptosis and necrosis caused by OE-HMOX1. CONCLUSION: The PCD signature may have a significant role in the tumor microenvironment, clinicopathological characteristics, prognosis and drug sensitivity. More importantly, HMOX1 depletion greatly induced tumor cell growth and inhibited cell apoptosis and fer-1 protected UVM cells from apoptosis and necrosis induced by OE-HMOX1. This work provides a foundation for effective therapeutic strategy in tumour treatment.

HLA-DR genetic polymorphisms and hepatitis B virus mutations affect the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in Han Chinese population.

BACKGROUND: Human leucocyte antigen (HLA)-DR plays a crucial role in the immune response against hepatitis B virus (HBV). We aimed to investigate the associations of HLA-DR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with the generation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)-related HBV mutations. The effects of HLA-DR SNPs and their interactions with HBV mutations on HCC risks were also determined. METHODS: Five HLA-DR SNPs (rs3135363, rs9268644, rs35445101, rs24755213, and rs984778) were genotyped in 792 healthy controls, 586 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, 536 liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, and 1500 HCC patients using quantitative PCR. Sanger sequencing was used to identify the HBV mutations. Logistic regression model was performed to evaluate the association of HLA-DR SNPs with HCC risk and the frequencies of HCC-related HBV mutations. RESULTS: The variant genotypes at rs3135363, rs9268644, rs35445101, rs24755213, and rs984778 were associated with decreased HCC risks. In genotype C HBV-infected subjects, variant genotypes of these SNPs were associated with decreased frequencies of HCC-related HBV mutations such as C1653T, T1674C/G, G1719T, T1753A/C, A1762T/G1764A, A1846T, G1896A, G1899A, and preS deletion. AG genotype at rs3135363, CA genotype at rs9268644, and AG genotype at rs24755213 reduced the generation of T1753A/C and G1896A in genotype B HBV-infected subjects, respectively. In addition, the interactions of rs3135363, rs9268644, rs24755213 with C1653T, T1753A/C, A1846T, and G1896A decreased the risks of HCC. CONCLUSIONS: HLA-DR genetic polymorphisms might predispose the host to immunoselection of HCC-related HBV mutations and affect the HCC risks possibly through interacting with HBV mutations.

A risk signature of ubiquitin-specific protease family predict the prognosis and therapy of kidney cancer patients.

Ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) are closely related to protein fate and cellular processes through various molecular signalling pathways, including DNA damage repair, p53, and transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß) pathways. In recent years, increasing evidence has revealed the pivotal role of ubiquitination in tumorigenesis of KIRC. However, USPs' molecular mechanism and clinical relevance in kidney cancer still need further exploration. Our study first determined prognosis-related ubiquitin-specific proteases (PRUSPs) in KIRC. We found these genes co-expressed with each other and might regulate different substrates. Based on the USPs' expression, the PRUSPs risk signature was constructed to predict the survival probability of KIRC patients. The patients in high-PRUSPs-risk group showed a low survival rate. ROC and calibration curve indicated a discriminate capacity of the signature, and uni-/multi-variate Cox regression analysis revealed that the PRUSPs score is an independent prognostic factor. In different KIRC clinical subgroups and external validation cohorts (including E-MTAB-1980 and TCGA-KIRP cohorts), the PRUSPs risk signature showed strong robustness and practicability. Further analysis found that high-risk group showed activation of immune-related pathways and high PD-1/CTLA4 expression, revealing that high-risk patients might be sensitive to immunotherapy. In summary, we constructed the USPs risk signature to predict kidney cancer prognosis, which provided the theoretical foundation for further clinical or pre-clinical experiments.

Nanoarchitecture Manipulation by Polycondensation on KCl Crystals toward Crystalline Lamellar Carbon Nitride for Efficient H2O2 Photoproduction.

A lamellar carbon nitride (CN) framework is one of the most promising materials for solar-driven hydrogen peroxide production. The low dielectric constant of the organic CN framework leads to severe recombination of the excitons, and the photon-to-chemical conversion efficiency is thus unsatisfactory. In this work, by polycondensation of the small molecules on the KCl crystal surface, K+-incorporated crystalline CN (CNK) frameworks show significantly extended periodicity of the stacking layers and in-plane orderly organized heptazine/triazine units. The crystalline CNK frameworks exhibit a series of favorable photophysical properties, such as enhanced photon absorption, negatively shifted LUMO potentials, and attenuated emissive decay of the excitons. The CNK frameworks thus present remarkable performance in the photocatalytic selective oxygen reduction reaction for hydrogen peroxide production, e.g., CNK framework from the polycondensation of NH4SCN on the KCl surface could produce hydrogen peroxide at a remarkable reaction rate of 26.7 mmol h-1 g-1 with a high apparent quantum yield of 25.0%, which is 23.5 times that on its counterpart synthesized in the absence of KCl. This method is generally applicable to all of the precursors for CN synthesis.

Fluorescent Covalent Organic Frameworks: A Promising Material Platform for Explosive Sensing.

Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are a novel class of porous crystalline organic materials with organic small molecule units connected by strong covalent bonds and extending in two- or three-dimension in an ordered mode. The tunability, porosity, and crystallinity have endowed covalent organic frameworks the capability of multi-faceted functionality. Introduction of fluorophores into their backbones or side-chains creates emissive covalent organic frameworks. Compared with common fluorescent organic solid materials, COFs possess several intrinsic advantages being as a type of irreplaceable fluorescence materials mainly because its highly developed pore structures can accommodate various types of guest analytes by specific or non-specific chemical bonding and non-bonding interaction. Developments in fluorescent COFs have provided opportunities to enhance sensing performance. Moreover, due to its inherent rigidified structures and fixed conformations, the intramolecular rotation, vibration, and motion occurred in common organic small molecules, and organic solid systems can be greatly inhibited. This inhibition decreases the decay of excited-state energy as heat and blocks the non-radiative quenching channel. Thus, fluorescent COFs can be designed, synthesized, and precisely tuned to exhibit optimal luminescence properties in comparison with common homogeneous dissolved organic small molecule dyes and can even compete with the currently mainstream organic solid semiconductor-based luminescence materials. This mini-review discusses the major design principle and the state-of-the-art paragon examples of fluorescent COFs and their typical applications in the detection and monitoring of some key explosive chemicals by fluorescence analysis. The challenges and the future direction of fluorescent COFs are also covered in detail in the concluding section.

Nanoarchitectonics in the Ionothermal Synthesis for Nucleation of Crystalline Potassium Poly (heptazine imide) Towards an Enhanced Solar-Driven H2 O2 Production.

Solar-driven selective oxygen reduction reaction on polymeric carbon nitride framework is one of the most promising approaches toward sustainable H2 O2 production. Potassium poly(heptazine imide) (PHI), with regular metal sites in the framework and favorable crystalline structure, is highly active for photocatalytic selective 2e oxygen reduction to produce H2 O2 . By introducing NH4 Cl into the eutectic KCl-LiCl salt mixture, the PHI framework exhibits a remarkable performance for photocatalytic production of H2 O2 , for example, a record high H2 O2 photo-production rate of 29.5 µmol h-1  mg-1 . The efficient photocatalytic performance is attributed to the favorable properties of the new PHI framework, such as improved porosity, negatively shifted LUMO position, enhanced exciton dissociation and charges migration properties. A mechanistic investigation by quenching and electron spin resonance technique reveals the critical role of superoxide radicals for the formation singlet oxygen, and the singlet oxygen is one of the critical intermediates towards the formation of the H2 O2 by proton extraction from the ethanol.

Rapid pollutant degradation by peroxymonosulfate via an unusual mediated-electron transfer pathway under spatial-confinement.

Nano-confinement systems offer various extraordinary chemical/physical properties, due to the spatial restriction and the electronic interaction between the confined species and the surrounding medium. They are, therefore, providing rich opportunities for the design of efficient catalytic reaction systems for pollutant removal. Herein, a highly efficient mediated-electron transfer pathway is identified on a spatially-confined zero valent cobalt for abatement of the organic pollutants by PMS. The catalyst showed efficient catalytic performance in both batch and a flow reactor for degradation of various pollutants, e.g., a degradation reaction constant of 0.052 s-1 for sulfamethoxazole and 0.041 s-1 for BPA. Regulated by the spatial-confinement, a distinctive inverse relationship between PMS decomposition rate and the electron density of the pollutant molecule was experimentally substantiated, e.g., in the presence of the electron-rich sulfamethoxazole, PMS decomposed slower than that with BPA, while in the presence of electron deficient diphenhydramine, PMS decomposed faster than that with BPA. The unique reaction mechanism endows the spatially-confined cobalt with the capability of eliminating the priority pollutants in the complex water matrix with pervasive halide ions and natural organic matter (NOM) via PMS activation.

Mechanistic analysis of multiple processes controlling solar-driven H2O2 synthesis using engineered polymeric carbon nitride.

Solar-driven hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production presents unique merits of sustainability and environmental friendliness. Herein, efficient solar-driven H2O2 production through dioxygen reduction is achieved by employing polymeric carbon nitride framework with sodium cyanaminate moiety, affording a H2O2 production rate of 18.7 µmol h -1 mg-1 and an apparent quantum yield of 27.6% at 380 nm. The overall photocatalytic transformation process is systematically analyzed, and some previously unknown structural features and interactions are substantiated via experimental and theoretical methods. The structural features of cyanamino group and pyridinic nitrogen-coordinated soidum in the framework promote photon absorption, alter the energy landscape of the framework and improve charge separation efficiency, enhance surface adsorption of dioxygen, and create selective 2e- oxygen reduction reaction surface-active sites. Particularly, an electronic coupling interaction between O2 and surface, which boosts the population and prolongs the lifetime of the active shallow-trapped electrons, is experimentally substantiated.

Efficient Fenton-like Process for Pollutant Removal in Electron-Rich/Poor Reaction Sites Induced by Surface Oxygen Vacancy over Cobalt-Zinc Oxides.

To achieve high efficiency and low consumption for water treatment in the Fenton reaction, we use the surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) as the electron temporary residences to construct a dual-reaction-center (RDC) Fenton-like catalyst with abundant surface electron-rich/poor areas consisting of OV-rich Co-ZnO microparticles (OV-CoZnO MPs). The lattice-doping of Co into ZnO wurtzite results in the formation of OVs with unpaired electrons (electron-rich OVs) and electron-deficient Co3+ sites according to the structural and electronic characterizations. Both experimental and theoretical calculations prove that the electron-rich OVs are responsible for the capture and reduction of H2O2 to generate hydroxyl radicals, which quickly degrades pollutants, while a large amount of pollutants are adsorbed at the electron-deficient Co3+ sites and act as electron donors for the system, accompanied by their own oxidative degradation. The electrons obtained from the pollutants in the electron-deficient sites are transferred to the OVs through the internal bond bridge to achieve the balance of electron gain/loss. Through this process, pollutants are efficiently converted and degraded by multiple pathways in a wide range of pH (4.5-9.5). The reaction rate of the OV-CoZnO MPs/H2O2 system is increased by ∼17 times compared with the non-DRC system. This discovery provides a sustainable strategy for pollutant utilization, which shows new implications for solving the troublesome issues of the Fenton reaction and for developing novel environmental remediation technologies.

Graphene oxide modified membrane for highly efficient wastewater treatment by dynamic combination of nanofiltration and catalysis.

Stacked graphene oxide (GO) nano-sheets with plentiful nanopores incorporated onto polymeric membrane are promising for water purification. However, maintaining high water permeability without sacrificing separation efficiency remains a challenge. Delamination of the GO layer from the membrane surface is another bottleneck affecting the efficiency of the material. To solve those problems, we immobilized a chemically crosslinked GO composite layer with enlarged interlayer space on the surface of a novel catalytic membrane, which served as the support. The modified GO nanosheets-coated catalytic membranes showed excellent separation robustness with withstanding strong lateral shear force during 6 h filtration in a crossflow model. The as-prepared membrane showed high removal efficiencies to Congo red and Basic blue (99 % and 96 %, respectively) due to the surface-coated GO composite layer. Furthermore, while launching the catalytic function of the membrane with a trace amount of reducing agent (NaBH4), the GO-coated composite membrane successfully purified 50 ppm Methyl orange, 50 ppm Methylene blue, 50 ppm Rhodamine B and 0.272 mmol/L 4-Nitrophenol to break through the membrane rejection limitation of 500 Mw. Combining nano-filtration and catalysis, the GO-coated composite membranes showed great potential for the continuous purification of chemically contaminated water.

Hierarchically Active Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Membrane Fabricated by In Situ Generated Zero-Valent Iron for Fouling Reduction.

Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) solution is a typical cleaning agent for membrane fouling. However, it can damage membrane chemical structures and produce toxic disinfection byproducts, which in turn reduces the membrane performance. This study focuses on the fabrication of active membranes thereby overcoming the limitations of chemical cleaning. A hierarchical active poly(vinylidene fluoride) membrane with polydopamine/polyethyleneimine (PEI) co-supported iron nanoparticle (Fe NP) catalysts was successfully constructed and denoted as a Fe-HP-membrane. The Fe-HP-membrane exhibited excellent advanced oxidation activity with maximum flux recoveries (∼85% with bovine serum albumin [BSA] and ∼95% with humic acid [HA] solutions). After the static experiment of ∼30 days, the BSA proteins and HA successfully desorbed from the membrane surface. Especially, with a trace amount of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) flowing over the surface of the Fe-HP-membrane, highly exposed active sites were observed. Membrane cleaning showed that the "outside-to-in" active surfaces generated considerable amounts of •OH radicals at the interface of BSA or HA and the fouled membrane. As a result, the unwanted foulants were successfully removed from the membrane interface, enabling multiple use of the Fe-HP-membrane. Therefore, backwashing with a small amount of H2O2 (0.33 wt %) covered ∼20% of the flux. In contrary, backwashing with NaClO (1 wt %) can only achieve a flux recovery of ∼10% after six consecutive BSA filtration cycles. The Fe-HP-membrane exhibited better HA foulant removal (a flux recovery of ∼51%) after backwashing with H2O2 than using NaClO (a flux recovery of ∼43%). Our findings demonstrate a new platform for water treatment and regeneration of fouled membranes.

Uniform Mesoporous Anatase Hollow Spheres: An Unexpectedly Efficient Fabrication Process and Enhanced Performance in Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution.

Uniform mesoporous anatase hollow spheres with high crystallinity have been fabricated by an efficient method, in which biocompatible ethanedioic acid acts as the chelating agent during the Ostwald ripening process. The combination of high crystallinity, large surface area, and mesoporosity leads to an excellent photocatalytic activity. In solar water splitting, the hollow spheres exhibit remarkably enhanced photocatalytic performance that is 1.4 times of P25.

Semirigid Tripodal Ligand Based Uranyl Coordination Polymer Isomers Featuring 2D Honeycomb Nets.

We report five novel uranyl coordination polymers, [(CH3)2NH2]UO2(BTPCA) (1), [(CH3)2NH2]UO2(BTPCA) (2), [(CH3)2NH2]2[UO2(BTPCA)][UO2(BTPCA)]·(H2O)5.5 (3), [(CH3)2NH2]2(UO2)2(BTPCA)2·(H2O)3 (4), and [(CH3)2NH2]UO2(BTPCA) (5), by the utilization of semirigid ligand 1,1',1″-(benzene-1,3,5-triyl)tripiperidine-4-carboxylic acid (H3BTPCA) and uranyl nitrate through solvothermal reactions. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the five compounds share a similar structure composition and local coordination mode to the exclusion of disordered water or DMF molecules. Each UO2(COO)3- motif is connected to six neighboring units through three BTPCA3- ligands, generating an infinite uranyl honeycomb (6, 3) net. The structures of all the five compounds consist of 2D honeycomb nets of various degrees of distortions, which are induced by the flexibility of piperidine rings. The dimethylamine cations and solvent molecules fill in the space between layers. Therefore, these five compounds are isomers in a broad sense. Notably, both compounds 3 and 4 possess 2-fold interpenetrated structures. For compound 5, the distance between the neighboring 2D honeycomb nets is 7.253 Å. This is the largest distance between the 2D honeycomb nets in uranyl-based coordination polymers, to the best of our knowledge. In addition, compounds 1, 2, and 4 are also characterized by infrared spectroscopy (IR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), and luminescence properties.

Soluble Myeloid Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cell 1 Might Have More Diagnostic Value for Bacterial Ascites than C-reactive Protein.

The timely and accurate diagnosis of ascites is of great significance for early treatment and prognostication. This study explored the value of soluble myeloid triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell 1 (sTREM-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP) for assessing ascites. A total of 133 patients with ascites who received treatment at the Affiliated Hospital of Taishan Medical University between September 2015 and September 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. The ascites in 22, 45, 33 and 33 patients were tuberculous, bacterial, tumorous, and transudative, respectively. Healthy volunteers (n=30) who received a health examination at the same hospital during the same period constituted the control group. Before treatment, both ascitic sTREM-1 and CRP showed significant differences among the ascites subgroups (P<0.001), with the highest levels in the bacterial subgroup. Serum sTREM-1 and CRP also showed significant differences among the groups. A correlation analysis showed a positive correlation between sTREM-1 and CRP. ROC curves of the bacterial subgroup showed that when the optimal cutoff point was set to 20.2, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the serum sTREM-1 index were 0.933, 0.955, 0.914, and 0.965, respectively. sTREM-1 may provide more diagnostic value than CRP for the diagnosis of bacterial ascites.

Visible-Light-Irradiated Graphitic Carbon Nitride Photocatalyzed Diels-Alder Reactions with Dioxygen as Sustainable Mediator for Photoinduced Electrons.

Photocatalytic Diels-Alder (D-A) reactions with electron rich olefins are realized by graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3 N4 ) under visible-light irradiation and aerobic conditions. This heterogeneous photoredox reaction system is highly efficient, and the apparent quantum yield reaches a remarkable value of 47 % for the model reaction. Dioxygen plays a critical role as electron mediator, which is distinct from the previous reports in the homogeneous RuII complex photoredox system. Moreover, the reaction intermediate vinylcyclobutane is captured and monitored during the reaction, serving as a direct evidence for the proposed reaction mechanism. The cycloaddition process is thereby determined to be the combination of direct [4+2] cycloaddition and [2+2] cycloaddition followed by photocatalytic rearrangement of the vinylcyclobutane intermediate.

New Organic Semiconducting Scaffolds by Supramolecular Preorganization: Dye Intercalation and Dye Oxidation and Reduction.

The assembly of melamine and 2,5-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone results in new "sheet-like" supramolecular crystals that by controlled thermal condensation can be converted to photoactive materials at relativity low temperatures. The condensation temperature alters the materials properties from polymer-like to carbon materials alongside their morphology and elemental ratio. This new method opens the possibility for the synthesis of new organic, photoactive carbon-nitrogen based frameworks at low calcination temperatures with great simplicity. Photodegradation experiments of methylene blue reveal that the obtained materials can perform dye reduction photochemically with visible photons, while at the same time the photogenerated holes oxidize the dye toward small molecular fragments.

Amorphous Sb2S3 embedded in graphite: a high-rate, long-life anode material for sodium-ion batteries.

Amorphous Sb2S3 embedded in a conductive graphite matrix is designed for sodium-ion batteries. Owing to the amorphous structure of the active phase and the conductive graphite matrix, the Sb2S3-graphite electrode exhibits a high initial Coulomblic efficiency, a high rate capacity, and stable cycle performance in sodium-ion batteries.

Conjugation of ß-glucan markedly increase the immunogencity of meningococcal group Y polysaccharide conjugate vaccine.

Meningococcal disease is a fatal illness of sudden onset caused by Neisseria meningitides. Meningococcal capsular polysaccharide (CPS) is a major virulence factor that generally does not induce immunological memory. Conjugation with a carrier protein can significantly increase the immunogenicity of CPS and induce immunological memory. However, it is highly desired to optimize the CPS-specific immunogenicity of the conjugate vaccine. Although adjuvant has been widely used to improve the immunogenicity of antigens, co-administration and conjugation of adjuvant with the conjugate vaccine has rarely been investigated. As a stimulator of humoral and cellular immunity, ß-glucan can activate macrophages and trigger intracellular processes to secrete cytokines initiating inflammatory reactions. In the present study, a conjugate vaccine (CPS-TT) was generated by conjugation of tetanus toxoid (TT) with meningococcal group Y CPS. CPS-TT was further conjugated with ß-glucan to generate CPS-TT-G. Immunization with CPS-TT-G led to an 8.2-fold increase in the CPS-specific IgG titers as compared with CPS-TT. Presumably, conjugation of ß-glucan ensured the two components to simultaneously reach the antigen presenting cells and stimulate the immune response. In contrast, co-administration of ß-glucan suppressed the CPS-specific immunogenicity of CPS-TT. Thus, conjugation of ß-glucan is an effective strategy to markedly improve the CPS-specific immunogenicity of the conjugate vaccine.

Template-free TiO2 hollow submicrospheres embedded with SnO2 nanobeans as a versatile scattering layer for dye-sensitized solar cells.

Nanobean SnO2-embedded TiO2 hollow submicrospheres are presented as a scattering layer for the first time in dye-sensitized solar cells. This designed mesoporous submicrostructure simultaneously promotes dye adsorption, light harvesting, and electron transport, leading to 28% improvement in the conversion efficiency compared to film-based SnO2.

Template-free synthesis of core-shell TiO2 microspheres covered with high-energy {116}-facet-exposed N-doped nanosheets and enhanced photocatalytic activity under visible light.

Core-shell TiO2 microspheres possess a unique structure and interesting properties, and therefore, they have received much attention. The high-energy facets of TiO2 also are being widely studied for the high photocatalytic activities they are associated with. However, the synthesis of the core-shell structure is difficult to achieve and requires multiple-steps and/or is expensive. Hydrofluoric acid (HF), which is highly corrosive, is usually used in the controlling high-energy facet production. Therefore, it is still a significant challenge to develop low-temperature, template-free, shape-controlled, and relative green self-assembly routes for the formation of core-shell-structured TiO2 microspheres with high-energy facets. Here, we report a template- and hydrofluoric acid free solvothermal self-assembly approach to synthesize core-shell TiO2 microspheres covered with high-energy {116}-facet-exposed nanosheets, an approach in which 1,4-butanediamine plays a key role in the formation of nanosheets with exposed {116} facets and the doping of nitrogen in situ. In the structure, nanoparticle aggregates and nanosheets with {116} high-energy facets exposed act as core and shell, respectively. The photocatalytic activity for degradation of 2,4,6-tribromophenol and Rhodamine B under visible irradiation and UV/Vis irradiation has been examined, and improved photocatalytic activity under visible light owing to the hierarchical core-shell structure, {116}-plane-oriented nanosheets, in situ N doping, and large surface areas has been found.