TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: In the method: nanocrystals are surrounded by a hydrophobic surfactant; and an additional metal oxide precursor is added during mixing. Preferred Components: The nanocrystal is a metal nanocrystal or a semiconductor nanocrystal comprising Group II-VI compounds, Group III-V compounds, Group IV-VI compounds and/or Group IV compounds, where: the Group II-VI compounds are cadmium selenide, cadmium telluride, zinc sulfide, zinc selenide, zinc telluride, zinc oxide, mercury sulfide, mercury selenide, mercury telluride, cadmium selenide sulfide, cadmium selenium telluride, cadmium sulfide telluride, zinc selenium sulfide, zinc selenium telluride, zinc sulfide telluride, mercury selenium sulfide, mercury selenium telluride, mercury sulfide telluride, cadmium zinc sulfide, cadmium zinc selenide, cadmium zinc telluride, cadmium mercury sulfide, cadmium mercury selenide, cadmium mercury telluride, mercury zinc sulfide, mercury zinc selenium , cadmium zinc selenium sulfide, cadmium zinc selenium sulfide telluride, cadmium selenium sulfide telluride, cadmium mercury selenium sulfide, cadmium mercury selenium telluride, cadmium mercury sulfide telluride, mercury zinc selenium sulfide, mercury zinc selenium telluride or mercury zinc sulfide telluride; the Group III-V compounds are gallium nitride, gallium phosphide, gallium arsenide, gallium antimonide, aluminum nitride, aluminum phosphide, aluminum arsenide , aluminum antimonide, indium nitride, indium phosphide, indium arsenide, indium antimonide, gallium nitride phosphorus, gallium nitride arsenide, gallium nitride antimonide, gallium phosphide arsenide , gallium phosphide antimonide, aluminum nitride phosphide, aluminum nitride arsenide, aluminum nitride antimonide, aluminum phosphide arsenide, aluminum phosphide antimonide, indium nitride phosphide, indium nitride, indium nitride sulfide antimonide, indium phosphide arsenide, indium phosphide antimonide, gallium aluminum nitride phosphide, gallium aluminum nitride arsenide, gallium aluminum nitride antimonide, gallium aluminum phosphide arsenide, gallium aluminum phosphide antimonide, gallium indium nitride phosphide, gallium indium nitride arsenide, gallium indium nitride antimonide, gallium indium phosphide arsenide, gallium indium phosphide antimonide, indium aluminum nitride phosphide, indium aluminum nitride arsenide, indium aluminum nitride antimonide, indium aluminum phosphide arsenide or indium aluminum phosphide antimonide; the Group IV-VI compounds are tin sulfide, tin selenide, tin telluride, lead sulfide, lead selenide, lead telluride, tin selenium sulfide, selenium sulfide telluride, tin sulfide telluride, lead selenium sulfide, lead selenium telluride, lead selenium sulfide telluride, tin lead sulfide, tin lead selenide, tin lead telluride, tin lead sulfide selenide, tin lead sulfide telluride or tin lead sulfide telluride; and the group IV compounds are silicon, germanium, silicon carbide or silicon germanium. The metal oxide precursor having organic groups is organosiloxane compounds, organosilane compounds, silsesquioxane compounds, titanium oxides, aluminum oxides, vanadium oxides, zinc oxides, tin oxides, tantalum oxides, cerium oxides or chromium oxides, having organic groups, where: the organosiloxane compounds are bis(triethoxysilyl)ethane, bis(triethoxysilyl)butane, bis(triethoxysilyl)octane, bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethane, bis(trimethoxysilyl)butane, bis(trimethoxysilyl)octane, bis(triethoxysilyl)ethylene, bis(trimethoxysilyl)ethylene, bis(triethoxysilyl)acetylene, bis(trimethoxysilyl)acetylene, 1,3,5-tris(diethoxysila)cyclohexane, or 1,3,5-tris(triethoxysilyl)benzene; the organosilane compounds are methyltrimethoxysilane, dimethyldimethoxysilane, propyltrimethoxysilane, propyltriethoxysilane, dipropyldimethoxysilane, octyltrimethoxysilane, octyltriethoxysilane, dioctyldimethoxysilane, or hexadecyltriethoxysilane; and the silsesquioxane compound is 2,4,6,8-tetramethyl-2,4,6,8-tetra(trimethoxysilylethoxy)cyclotetrasiloxane.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The solvent is a polar solvent comprising alkanols, acetone, ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, chloroform, dimethylformamide, tetrahydrofuran, dimethylsulfoxide, pyridine or alkylamines. EXAMPLE - Trioctylamine (16 g), octadecylphosphonic acid (0.3 g) and cadmium oxide (0.4 mmol) were added into flask (125 ml) equipped with a condenser. The mixture was allowed to react with stirring at 300 degrees C to obtain a reaction mixture. Separately, selenium (Se) powder was dissolved in trioctylphosphine (TOP) to obtain a Se-TOP complex solution. The Se-TOP complex solution (2 ml) was rapidly fed to the reaction mixture and the reaction was allowed to proceed for 2 minutes. After the reaction was finished, the reaction mixture was cooled. Ethanol was added to the reaction mixture in an amount sufficient to precipitate the reaction product. The precipitate was separated from the supernatant and dispersed in toluene (4 ml) to give cadmium selenium nanocrystals. The obtained nanocrystal was added to pyridine (1 ml) and stirred until the solution became transparent. Hexane was added to the pyridine solution of the nanocrystals in an amount sufficient to obtain a precipitate. The precipitate was collected, dissolved in a 10 vol.% of pyridine solution of 1:1 mole ratio of 6-mercaptohexanol and propylamine, and stirred for 2 hours and hexane was added to the solution. Tetraethoxyorthosilane (100 mu l), 1,3,5-tris(diethoxysila)cyclohexane (100 mu l), ethanol (100 mu l), propylamine (100 mu l) and water (50 mu l) were added to the precipitate, stirred, and dried to give cadmium selenium nanocrystals-silica composites.