Pursuing the Crystallization of Mono- and Polymetallic Nanosized Crystalline Inorganic Compounds by Low-Temperature Wet-Chemistry and Colloidal Routes

Wet chemistry synthetic routes affording nanocrystalline inorganic compounds at low temperatures (T <= 200°C) were reviewed. This exciting and thought-provoking topic is of particular interest when taken into account within the framework of green chemistry and the growing need to synthesize pure crystalline nanomaterials with environmentally friendly routes. For each main reviewed synthetic approach, a theoretical overview illustrating the basic principles of the route precedes the main body of the review where the most important examples of each route were reported. To provide the reader with a more complete perspective on the subject, the main crystallization pathways which materials can take from colloids were also discussed.