Sustainable and very-low-temperature wet-chemistry routes for the synthesis of crystalline inorganic nanostructures

Abstract

In this chapter, selected low (T < 200 °C)-temperature wet-chemistry routes for the synthesis of crystalline inorganic compounds are described and reviewed, outlining their main features and application fi elds. In particular, the chosen approaches are hydro/solvothermal synthesis, template-assisted approaches, nucleation and growth in solution/suspension, microemulsion and miniemulsion. The described synthetic strategies have been selected since all of them, once optimized the experimental set-up and conditions, comply with the paradigms of green chemistry, being based on low (or even room) temperature of processing, on low chemical consumption (they are all bottom-up approach), in many cases having water as solvent or dispersing medium. In this regard, environmentally friendly methodologies for the controlled synthesis of inorganic nanostructures represent a stimulating research playground, since the use of environmentally friendly, green, cost-effective and technically sound approaches to inorganic crystalline nanostructures does not necessarily imply to sacrifi ce the sample crystallinity, purity, and monodispersity.