Multiferroic and heterogeneous ferromagnetic nanowires prepared by sol–gel, electrodeposition, and combined techniques

This chapter will give a concise review of the fabrication methods of multiferroic and heterogeneous ferromagnetic nanowires. First, a general overview about nanowire synthesis is presented. In the context of an alumina membrane template-assisted method, we present the approaches to modulate the geometry or the composition of ferromagnetic nanowires by electrodeposition. In the same way, sol–gel methods can produce more versatile compounds as multiferroic materials (when two or more ferroic properties coexist in the same phase, namely, ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism, or ferroelasticity). They possess great potential for sensor applications as well as open several branches of fundamental science research. Finally, the fabrication of other structured nanowires composed of both ferromagnetic and multiferroic phases by combined techniques is presented.