Abstract

Control of the size and shape of nanoparticles during their synthesis is very important and challenging. A liquid phase synthesis route to obtain finely divided metals from their oxides, hydroxides or salts in polyalcohols has been named "the polyol method". This consists of preparing metallic powders using a liquid organic compound that acts as a solvent for the solid precursor and as a reducing agent. It is a unique chemical method for the preparation of a wide variety of nanoparticles and it is used in important technological fields. Agglomerated and Non-agglomerated particles with well defined shape, narrow size distribution and controlled size are obtained as colloidal dispersions. The method offers many advantages: ease of use, low cost, controllable and reproducible, and, most importantly, scalability. The results in the synthesis of gold nanoparticles obtained with this method are presented in this work.