Solvothermal synthesis

Solvothermal synthesis is a method of producing chemical compounds. It is very similar to the hydrothermal route (where the synthesis is conducted in a stainless steel autoclave), the only difference being that the precursor solution is usually non-aqueous (however, this is not always the case in all uses of the expression in the scientific literature). Using the solvothermal route gains one the benefits of both the sol-gel and hydrothermal routes.