Inorganic nanoparticles are among the most investigated objects nowadays, both in fundamental science and in various technical applications. In this book the physical properties of nanowires formed by nanoparticles with elongated shape, i.e. rod-like or wire-like, are described. The transition in the physical properties is analyzed for nanorods and nanowires consisting of spherical and rod-like nanoparticles. The physical properties of nanowires and elongated inorganic nanoparticles are reviewed too. The optical, electrical, magnetic, mechanical and catalytic properties of nanowires consisting of semiconductors, noble and various other metals, metal oxides properties and metal alloys are presented. The applications of nanorods and nanowires are discussed in the book.

Nanosized magnetic materials have received great attention and importance during the last decade. Nanomagnetic material is one of the hottest subjects of present day research activities. The physical properties of nanosized magnetic materials differ considerably from that of their bulk counterparts and the magnetic characteristics of many materials can be tuned by reducing their size. The objectives of this research work are the synthesis and studies on the structural and magnetic properties of some selected transition metal oxides and ferrites in nanocrystalline form. The research work has been carried out on transition metal ion doped zinc oxide (ZnO) based diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMSs), some ferrites (for instance, Zn-ferrite, NiZn-ferrite, maghemite, etc.) and magnetopolymer nanocomposite systems. The respective nanocrystalline oxides are synthesized using a simple solution combustion method and characterized using various techniques. The results from the studies on different materials are presented in this thesis, consisting of six chapters. Last but not the least, several performance parameters have been measured and conditions for best results have been discussed.