Synthesis of monodispersed nanocrystalline materials in supercritical ethanol: A generalized approach

We report a generalized approach for synthesis of a variety of nearly monodisperse inorganic nanostructured materials with different sizes and shapes using supercritical ethanol (SCE). In the present synthetic strategy the inorganic precursor and stabilizer (long chain amines) were co-solubilised in ethanol. Decomposition of the precursor occurred under supercritical conditions and facilitated rapid homogeneous nucleation, growth, and crystallization of the desired nanoparticles in near monodisperse state. The size and shape of the synthesized nanoparticles were tuned by varying the synthetic parameters. The particles exhibited size- and shape-dependent properties, and could be readily dispersed in hexane and toluene. Controlled evaporation of solvent from the dispersions yielded fairly ordered 2D structures.