Gadolinium-based fluorescent nanoparticles are ideal building blocks for construction of multifunctional theranostics agents within one particle.In this report,Rare-earth (RE3+) doped gadolinium oxide (Gd2O3) hollow nanospheres with upconversion luminescence (UCL),magnetic and drug delivery properties have been successfully prepared on a large scale via a template-directed method using hydrothermal carbon spheres as sacrificed templates.SEM and TEM images reveal that these hollow nanospheres inherit the spherical shape with mesoporous shells that are composed of a large amount of uniform nanoparticles.