Recently, dendritic mesoporous silica nanoparticles with widespread applications have attracted great interest. Despite many publications (>800), the terminology "dendritic" is ambiguous. Understanding what possible "dendritic structures" are, their formation mechanisms and the underlying structure-property relationship is fundamentally important. With the advance of characterization techniques such as electron tomography, two types of tree-branch-like and flower-like structures can be distinguished, both described as "dendritic" in the literature. In this Review, we start with the definition of "dendritic", then provide critical analysis of reported dendritic silica nanoparticles according to their structural classification. We update the understandings of the formation mechanisms of two types of "dendritic" nanoparticles, highlighting how to control their structural parameters. Applications of dendritic mesoporous nanoparticles are also reviewed with a focus on the biomedical field, providing new insights into the structure-property relationship in this family of nanomaterials.
Keywords: dendritic materials; mesoporous materials; nanomaterials; organosilica nanoparticles; silica nanoparticles.
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