Microwave irradiation assisted, one pot synthesis of simple and complex metal oxide nanoparticles: A general approach

We demonstrate a standard approach for the growth of binary/ternary metal oxide nanostructures within 5 min at a low temperature (<100 °C) by using metal acetylacetonates as the starting precursor material and microwave as the source of energy in the presence/absence of a surfactant. Nanoparticles of some functionally advanced binary/ternary metal oxides (MnO₂, Fe₂O₃, NiO, CdO, Ga₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, ZnFe₂O₄, ZnMn₂O₄) are synthesized and the structure/microstructure is analyzed to ensure the phase and crystallinity. This synthesis procedure can be extended to the large scale production of many other simple and complex metal oxides.