Strategies to High-quality Nanomaterials

Aiming at state-of-the-art nanomaterials - in addition to the initial particle size - aspects such as size distribution, degree of agglomeration, colloidal stability, surface conditioning, redispersibility and biocompatibility are of major importance, too. Moreover, the crystallinity of as-prepared materials can be essential due to the fact that certain physical properties (e.g., pigment color, electron/ion conductivity, luminescence, magnetism, catalysis) are restricted to crystalline host lattices. To meet the above requirements, liquid-phase synthesis of nanomaterials is performed in the research team via the following methods:

• Synthesis in high-boiling alcohols (Polyol-mediated synthesis)
• Microwave-assisted synthesis in ionic liquids
• Microemulsion techniques
• Solvothermal / hydrothermal methods
• Spray-drying

Synthesis and characterization of nanomaterials, which have not been realized on the nanoscale till now, as well as the realization of novel compounds and morphologies are key-issues of our research activities. Furthermore, the relevant properties of nanoscale functional materials are investigated. This includes:

• Luminescent nanomaterials
• Nanoscale transparent conductive oxides
• Nanoscale catalysts/photocatalysts
• Nanoscale color pigments
• Nanoscale magnetic pigments
• Nanomaterials for medical application

Some typical nanomaterials are shown below. These examples are prepared via polyol-mediated synthesis (Figure 1), microemulsion techniques (Figure 2) and microwave-assisted synthesis in ionic liquids (Figure 3):

Figure 1: Nanomaterials prepared via the polyol-mediated Synthesis

Figure 2: Nanomaterials prepared via microemulsion techniques

Figure 3: Nanomaterials prepared via microwave-assisted synthesis in ionic liquids.