Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 February 2011
Multifunctional engineering systems made up of different material components each providing primarily a single function are well known. Frequently, even for a monofunctional application, the material component must already have an optimum set of secondary properties to fulfill that function. It would be desirable to have multifunctional material components. In this paper some known multifunctional ceramic materials, mainly crystalline and glassy oxide systems, are reviewed. These are conveniently divided into molecular, ultrastructural and integrated materials systems. Projections are made regarding the future developments of multifunctional ceramics as well as nanocomposites with both inorganic and organic components based on the sol-gel technique.