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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
Conventional material synthesis procedures rely on the intrinsic chemical behaviours (e.g., different hydrolysis rates of the reactants in solution phase reactions or different vapour pressure or thermal stability in the gas phase reactions) of the different components, which make the material properties susceptible to inaccuracies due to an increased number of process variables. As a consequence, phase separation and element segregation are present at the nanometer scale, although the global stoichiometry of the product may correspond to the desired composition. In this context, the use of well-defined molecular precursors is a promising approach to grow extended solid-state structures from atomic constituents.