Table 1.

Most commonly employed characterization techniques for nanocrystals (Singare et al., 2010, de Waard et al., 2009, Shaal et al., 2010, Hu et al., 2011, Niwa et al., 2011, Shegokar et al., 2011, Quan et al., 2011, Ghosh et al., 2012, Moeschwitzer, 2010a, Moeschwitzer, 2010b).

Characterization parameter	Examples of analytical methods
Structure and morphology	Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy
Particle size and particle size distribution	Photon correlation spectroscopy (based on dynamic laser light scattering), laser diffraction (static laser light scattering), microscopic methods
Surface charge	Zeta potential
Solid state analysis (crystallinity)	Powder X-ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry
Rheological properties (for liquid nanosuspensions)	Viscometer, rheometer