Hydrothermal synthesis of nano-metal oxides for structural modification: A review

Abstract

Materials with a minimum of one dimension less than 100 nanometers (nm) are referred to as nanomaterials (NMs), granting them unique and intriguing properties due to their minimal size. NMs exhibit unique thermal, magnetic, optical, and chemical properties that distinguish them significantly from larger molecules such as micromolecular, bulk organic, or inorganic compounds. Metal oxide NMs are utilized in the medical sector for targeted drug delivery, environmental science for pollution management and water treatment, and electronics to improve energy production. Because of the rapidly growing demand for nanomaterials with precise morphological properties for specific applications, significant research efforts have been directed toward developing hydrothermal synthetic methodologies under various reaction conditions to achieve both scientifically and practically novel results. Several studies have been conducted to study the impact of various response parameters on the fundamental characteristics and morphology of MNs. Therefore, this review paper discussed the hydrothermal synthesis under different reaction conditions for seven important metal oxides (ZnO, CuO, Fe₂O₃, CdO, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, and CaO). Furthermore, it analyzes how utilizing varied source materials alongside diverse reaction parameters affects the structural morphology of these nanoscale materials, facilitating their development for specific applications.