Aerosol-assisted synthesis and assembly of nanoscale building blocks

Aerosol methods, including spray drying and spray pyrolysis, represent industrial scale routes to materials on account of their continuous nature. Recently, these methods have been used to prepare size-, shape- and architecturally controlled nanostructures for a range of inorganic materials. In this Feature Article, a brief overview of traditional aerosol methods is provided. Then, the new chemical methods that have been integrated into aerosol techniques to achieve high quality nanomaterials are highlighted. Given that the properties of nanomaterials are dependent on their structural features, these synthetic advances help to address the critical need for new nanomanufacturing routes to materials.