Electrochemical methods are one of the powerful options for the synthesis of a great variety of materials including continuous or porous films of tuneable thickness, nanoparticles, nanorods, nanowires and nanotubes made of either single-phase or multi-phase (i.e., composite) materials.

Electrochemical methods have many inherent advantages over physical deposition techniques such as simple set-up, low cost, low power demand and high compatibility with micro and nanofabrication technologies. We are interested in the growth of technologically relevant continuous metallic thin films by electrodeposition (e.g. Cu-Ni, Ni-Pt, Co-W, Fe-Pd) and in the scaling down of the synthetic procedures for the production of micro- and nanostructures (e.g. micropillars, nanowires and nanopillars). To this end, photo- and e-beam lithographed silicon based substrates, anodic alumina membranes (AAO) and track-etched polymeric templates are used as matrices to accommodate the electrodeposited materials. Also, the synthesis of macro- and mesoporous films by electrochemical means is tackled. Porous materials with large surface to volume rations are targeted to exhibit superhydrophobicity, ferromagnetism or electrocatalytic characteristics) depending on the end application. Particular emphasis is given to new alloy compositions suitable for environmental / sustainable development applications (based on Fe, Ni, Cu, without the presence of large amounts of costly noble metals or rare earths), obtained using non-hazardous approaches.