posted on 2021-02-23, 19:22authored bySantosh
K. Gupta, Yuanbing Mao
A wide
range of inorganic nanomaterials with many fascinating properties
and application potentials in widespread fields may be synthesized
by wet chemical synthetic routes. To achieve scientific and commercial
viability of nanomaterials with uniformity and scalability, it is
necessary to develop efficient and cost-effective, preferably sustainable,
methods. The molten salt synthesis (MSS) method is one such bottom-up
technique to fabricate a wide variety of inorganic nanomaterials with
tunable size, morphology, and surface characteristics. It is also
environmentally friendly, cost-effective, simple to operate, easy
to scale, and generalizable, etc. This review gives a critical overview
on this emerging and rapidly developing method for making defect free
nanomaterials in well-defined texture, surface, and morphology at
a relatively low formation temperature. We have discussed its different
aspects, including the role of molten salts, the choice of molten
salts, the electrochemical aspects, some advanced modifications of
the conventional MSS technique, and their implications. To show the
most recent development on MSS synthesized inorganic nanomaterials,
this review only encompasses the studies reported over the last six
years (2015–2020). We have summarized technologically important
and emerging families of inorganic nanomaterials such as metal oxides,
fluorides, nitrides, silicides, chalcogenides, oxohalides, borides,
and carbides. Finally, a few perspectives for the MSS method are highlighted.
It is expected that this review will further attract scientists to
explore the MSS method in making size- and shape-tunable nanomaterials.