Green chemical approaches toward high-quality semiconductor nanocrystals.

Green chemistry principles have gradually been implemented into the development of the synthetic chemistry of high-quality semiconductor nanocrystals. In comparison with the original organometallic approach, the resulting alternative routes are safe, simple, inexpensive, reproducible, versatile, "user friendly", and yield nanocrystals with well-controlled size, shape, and size/shape distribution. Further developments in this direction will promote the understanding of crystallization in general.