Colloidal syntheses of FePt nanoparticles

Over the past few years FePt nanoparticles (nPs) have become key–candidates for the development of platforms for data storage, catalysis and a wide range of biomedical applications. While fairly young in regards of other magnetic nPs, the synthesis of FePt nPs has certainly reached a maturity which makes it timely to briefly review the main colloidal chemistry pathways used to obtain them. With a biased interest towards direct face centred tetragonal (fct) crystalline phase formation, we then present a short review aiming at introducing the readers to the syntheses of FePt nPs. We then take advantage of this snapshot to comment on advantages and drawbacks of each approach together with highlighting the potential directions the field might evolve towards in the near future to form full chemically organised FePt nPs.