Li₂Si₂O₅ are generally obtained in form of granules with unavoidable impurities including Li₂SiO₃ and SiO₂. Here, we demonstrated a facile hydrothermal route to synthesize novel 3D hierarchical Li₂Si₂O₅ hydrate hollow flower-like microstructures assembled by rod subunits with high purity. The crystal growth was accomplished by complete transformation from poorly crystallized metastable phases formed in the initial stage including Li₂SiO₃, SiO₂ and various Li₂Si₂O₅ hydrate species to Li₂Si₂O₅ hydrate rods. The transformation over many times gave a sustainable high chemical potential to direct the anisotropic growth of Li₂Si₂O₅ hydrate rods with large aspect ratios. Besides, the variation of Li/Si molar ratios confirmed that Li₂Si₂O₅ hydrate rods were obtained only at Li/Si = 1. The perfection and aspect ratio of the rods could be controlled very well by adjusting the hydrothermal temperatures and precursor concentrations. Some new points about obtaining pure phase and anisotropic morphology were discussed, including careful selection of precursors and synthetic method. The obtained novel 3D Li₂Si₂O₅ hydrate structures exhibited a characteristic of mesoporous material and had an excellent adsorption capability of methylene blue with high adsorption amount of 49.42 mg·g⁻¹ and color removal of 98.85%, indicating the potential use in wastewater treatment.

Hylomecon japonica (Thunb.) Prantl. is a Chinese medicinal plant whose active components and their antimicrobial mechanism was studied by TLC bioautography-guided isolation and identification of 12 alkaloids and their antimicrobial activities evaluated using the standard broth microdilution method. The benzophenanthridine isoquinoline alkaloids showed the strongest inhibitory activity against Gram-positive bacteria. Analysis of conductivity changes and observation of TEM images revealed that the antimicrobial mechanism involved cell integrity damage and cell division arrest.