Colloidal strategies for preparing oxide-based hybrid nanocrystals

Recent progress of colloidal chemistry in the synthesis of multimaterial nanostructures incorporating transition-metal oxides is reviewed. Attention is focused on the emerging class of hybrid nanocrystals (HNCs), in which domains of different materials are interconnected through inorganic junctions in defined spatial arrangements. The level of expertise so far achieved in the preparation of single-material NCs with finely tuned geometric parameters has been further extended into elegant 'seeded growth' approaches for accessing elaborate HNCs by control of interfacial lattice strain and surface energy in liquid media. Various topological configurations are analyzed, including concentric core/shell architectures, hetero-oligomers grouping spherical material domains and more asymmetric hybrid nanostructures based on rod-shaped sections. The chemical-physical properties and technological advantages offered by such multifunctional HNCs are also summarized. ((C) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008).