# Nanomaterial synthesis: templates > Graphical abstracts of common nanomaterial syntheses: metal, oxide and carbon nanoparticles, nanorods, carbon nitride, mesoporous silica, MOFs, MXenes and liposomes. URL: https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis 13 templates. All templates: https://www.labcanvas.com/templates - [Green synthesis of silver and gold nanoparticles](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/green-synthesis-silver-gold-nanoparticles) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/green-synthesis-silver-gold-nanoparticles.md)): Leaves are boiled in water and the filtered extract is added to silver nitrate or chloroauric acid. Phytochemicals in the extract, such as polyphenols and flavonoids, reduce Ag⁺ and Au³⁺ to metal atoms that nucleate into nanoparticles, and the same molecules cap the particles. The colloid changes colour as the particles form: yellow-brown for silver, ruby red to purple for gold. - [Turkevich citrate reduction of gold nanoparticles](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/turkevich-method-gold-nanoparticles) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/turkevich-method-gold-nanoparticles.md)): Trisodium citrate is added to a boiling solution of chloroauric acid. Citrate reduces Au(III) to gold atoms, which form nuclei that grow into spherical nanoparticles, and the adsorbed citrate gives them a negative charge that keeps the colloid stable. The pale yellow solution turns wine red. Frens showed that the citrate-to-gold ratio sets the particle size. - [Seed-mediated growth of gold nanorods](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/seed-mediated-growth-gold-nanorods) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/seed-mediated-growth-gold-nanorods.md)): Small CTAB-capped gold seeds are made by reducing HAuCl₄ with ice-cold sodium borohydride in CTAB. They are added to a growth solution of CTAB, HAuCl₄, silver nitrate and ascorbic acid, where ascorbic acid has already reduced Au(III) to colourless Au(I). On the seeds, gold is deposited mainly at the tips, because the CTAB bilayer and silver block the side facets, so the particles grow into rods with two plasmon bands. - [Co-precipitation of magnetite (Fe₃O₄) nanoparticles](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/magnetite-fe3o4-nanoparticles-co-precipitation) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/magnetite-fe3o4-nanoparticles-co-precipitation.md)): Ferrous and ferric salts in a 1 : 2 ratio are precipitated together by adding a base such as ammonia, under nitrogen so that Fe²⁺ is not oxidized. Black magnetite nanoparticles form at once; a magnet pulls them out of the liquid, and they are washed and can be coated with silica, polymers or small molecules. Small magnetite particles are superparamagnetic. - [Hydrothermal synthesis of carbon dots](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/carbon-dots-hydrothermal-synthesis) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/carbon-dots-hydrothermal-synthesis.md)): Citric acid and ethylenediamine are dissolved in water and heated in a sealed Teflon-lined autoclave. They condense into polymer-like clusters that carbonize into carbon dots: nanometre-sized particles with a partly graphitic core and amino, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups on the surface. After dialysis the dots give bright blue fluorescence under UV light, with quantum yields of up to about 80 % in the original report. - [g-C₃N₄ by thermal polymerization](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/g-c3n4-thermal-polymerization-melamine) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/g-c3n4-thermal-polymerization-melamine.md)): Melamine is heated in a covered crucible in a muffle furnace. It loses ammonia and condenses into graphitic carbon nitride, a yellow, layered polymer built from tri-s-triazine (heptazine) units linked by nitrogen. Heating the bulk powder again in air etches it into nanosheets about 2 nm thick with a much larger surface area, for visible-light photocatalysis. - [Hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanorod arrays](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/zno-nanorods-hydrothermal-growth) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/zno-nanorods-hydrothermal-growth.md)): A substrate is coated with ZnO nanocrystals that act as seeds and annealed. It is then hung face-down in an aqueous solution of zinc nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) in equal amounts and heated gently. HMTA slowly releases hydroxide, zinc hydroxide forms and converts to ZnO on the seeds, and hexagonal wurtzite rods grow along their c-axis into a dense, vertically aligned array. - [Sol–gel synthesis of TiO₂ and SiO₂](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/sol-gel-synthesis-tio2-sio2) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/sol-gel-synthesis-tio2-sio2.md)): A metal alkoxide such as titanium isopropoxide (for TiO₂) or tetraethyl orthosilicate (for SiO₂) is mixed with water in alcohol, with an acid or base as catalyst. The alkoxide groups hydrolyse to M–OH, which condense into M–O–M bridges: first a sol of small particles, then a gel whose network spans the whole liquid. Drying gives a dense xerogel or, with supercritical drying, a light aerogel; calcination removes organics and crystallizes the oxide. - [Stöber synthesis of monodisperse silica spheres](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/stober-method-silica-nanoparticles) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/stober-method-silica-nanoparticles.md)): Tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) is added to a stirred mixture of ethanol, water and ammonia. Ammonia catalyses the hydrolysis of TEOS to silicic acid and its condensation into Si–O–Si; nuclei form and then grow evenly, giving a milky suspension of uniform silica spheres. Stöber, Fink and Bohn obtained diameters from below 0.05 µm to 2 µm by choosing the alcohol, ammonia and water amounts. - [MCM-41 mesoporous silica by surfactant templating](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/mcm-41-mesoporous-silica-synthesis) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/mcm-41-mesoporous-silica-synthesis.md)): Cationic surfactant (CTAB) in water forms spherical micelles and, at higher concentration, rod-like micelles that pack into a hexagonal array. Silicate from TEOS under basic conditions condenses around the rods. Removing the surfactant by calcination or extraction leaves silica with a honeycomb of uniform channels, tunable from about 1.5 to over 10 nm, which can be loaded with drugs or catalysts. - [MOF synthesis: ZIF-8 and UiO-66](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/zif-8-uio-66-mof-synthesis) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/zif-8-uio-66-mof-synthesis.md)): Metal–organic frameworks form when metal ions or clusters link through organic ligands into porous crystals. ZIF-8 forms rapidly when methanol solutions of a zinc salt and 2-methylimidazole are mixed at room temperature: Zn²⁺ tetrahedra joined by imidazolates make sodalite cages and rhombic-dodecahedral crystals. UiO-66 is made solvothermally from ZrCl₄ and terephthalic acid in DMF; Zr₆O₄(OH)₄ clusters each bind twelve terephthalates, and after solvent exchange and activation the octahedral crystals are porous and very stable. - [MXene (Ti₃C₂Tₓ) by selective etching of Ti₃AlC₂](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/mxene-ti3c2-selective-etching) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/mxene-ti3c2-selective-etching.md)): The MAX phase Ti₃AlC₂ is a layered carbide in which Ti₃C₂ layers are held together by aluminium. Hydrofluoric acid, or a mixture of LiF and HCl that forms HF in situ, dissolves the Al layers selectively and leaves an accordion-like stack of Ti₃C₂Tₓ layers whose surfaces carry –O, –OH and –F terminations. Cations such as Li⁺ or organic molecules intercalate between the layers, and sonication or simple hand shaking separates them into single flakes that form a stable colloid. - [Liposomes by thin-film hydration and extrusion](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/liposomes-thin-film-hydration-extrusion) ([Markdown](https://www.labcanvas.com/templates/nanomaterial-synthesis/liposomes-thin-film-hydration-extrusion.md)): Phospholipids such as phosphatidylcholine, usually with cholesterol, are dissolved in chloroform and the solvent is removed on a rotary evaporator, leaving a thin lipid film on the flask wall. Hydrating the film with an aqueous buffer above the lipids’ phase-transition temperature swells it into multilamellar vesicles. Extrusion through a polycarbonate membrane (or sonication) turns them into unilamellar liposomes, with hydrophilic drugs in the water core and hydrophobic drugs in the bilayer.