Non-aqueous sol–gel synthesis of nano-structured metal fluorides

This review summarises the progress, achieved in the last 5 years, in the field of synthesis of nano-structured metal fluorides. The main focus is laid on the non-aqueous sol–gel-synthesis, which is opening a wide window toward nanoscopic metal fluorides with properties remarkably different from that of crystalline metal fluorides. Based on examples of binary as well as complex metal fluorides prepared via this new sol–gel-route it will be shown how the physical properties of nanoscopic compounds deviate from their macroscopic counterparts.