The synthesis of metallic and semiconducting nanoparticles from reactive melts of precursors

The decomposition of melts of single-source precursors has yielded a range of interesting nanocrystals. The metal and semiconductor nanomaterials produced often display very exotic morphologies. These solventless, self-capping reactions are exceedingly simple and potentially scalable. In this review we survey all examples known to us of this approach to nanoparticle synthesis.