TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Method: The initial morphology of the particles (P1) and the morphology of the grains of metal oxide formed in step (b) are the same. The initial morphology includes particle size and/or shape. The at least one metal oxide is formed as discrete regions on the surfaces of the particles of material (P1), or forms a surface layer on the particles (P1), or extends throughout the particles (P1). The metal oxide is a complex metal oxide.The atoms from the particles are incorporated into the complex metal oxide matrix such that the complex metal oxide matrix exhibits uniform composition on the nanometer scale. Two or more phases of metal oxide material are formed. The particulate material does not fully react with the precursor mixture such that the final product comprises a phase from the original particles and a metal oxide phase that has metal atoms from the precursor mixture and the particulate material. Excess particulate material is present in the mixture of step (a), such that unreacted particulate material remains after the precursor mix has been consumed.The product particles include phases arising from a combination of the initial particles and the precursors, and the product particles have a non-equiaxed particle shape and other product particles containing metal oxide phases formed solely from metal atoms provided by the precursors, the other product particles are not non-equiaxed in shape. The metal oxide is produced by a co-precipitation process, a sol-gel synthesis, a micro emulsion method, a surfactant-based process, a process that uses polymers mixed with solutions or a polymer-complex method that uses specific polymers to form complexes with the solutions.The metal oxide includes one or more metals from Groups IA, 2A, 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A of the Periodic Table, transition metals, lanthanides and/or actinides.Preferably the metal is selected from cerium, zirconium, aluminium, titanium, yttrium, magnesium, chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, aluminium, strontium, niobium, molybdenum, platinum group metals (including Pt, Pd, Rh, Re), gold, silver and/or metals from the lanthanide series. The precursors of the metal oxides are provided in the form of a solution containing one or more metal cations. The step (a) involves making a mixture of the particles of material and a solution. The particles (P1) have a particle size similar to the grain size of the metal oxide produced by the method. The particles (P1) present in the mixture have a particle size of 1 - 250 nm.The particles (P1) are present in the form of particles of a metal, particles of two or more metals, and/or particles of metal alloy containing two or more metals; and are in the form of particles of metal compounds or mixed metal compounds such as oxides, nitrates, chlorides, sulfates, hydroxides, or oxy-hydrides. The particles (P1) are evenly dispersed throughout the mixture that is treated in step (b).The particles (P1) are dispersed after the solution has been formed or are mixed with a soluble metal compound(s) prior to addition of a solute to form the solution, or are dispersed in a liquid and the precursors subsequently added to that dispersion. The method involves dispersing the support particles in a solution having pH that promotes dispersion and minimizes aggregation of the support particles, followed by mixing the dispersion with a solution or mixture containing the one or more precursors of the metal oxide. The particles in the dispersion are monodispersed.The particles (P1) comprise a branched aggregate of particles and the particles are dispersed without causing the aggregates to break down. The mixture of step (a) is subjected to one of the following steps to form the metal oxide:(i) heat treatment, by heating to an elevated temperature;(ii) precipitation, optionally followed by heat treatment;(iii) hydrolysis, optionally followed by heat treatment;(iv) gelling, optionally followed by heat treatment;(v) calcination; or(vi) pyrolysis.The preparation of the complex metal oxide further involves treating the mixture in the step (1b) to form a gel and heating the gel to form the metal oxide.The surfactant is selected from non-ionic surfactants, cationic surfactants, anionic surfactants and zwitterionic surfactants. The particles (P1) are evenly dispersed throughout the micellar liquid that is treated in step (1c). The particles (P1) in the micellar liquid treated in step (1c) provide one or more metals for incorporation into the complex metal oxide and the one or more metals from the particles are present in the form of a metal or mixture of metals or metal alloys; or in the form of particles containing metal compounds and/or mixed metal compounds. The step (1c) involves heating the mixture from step (1b) to form the metal oxide particles. The heating of the mixture is preceded by treating the surfactant/liquid mixture to form a gel. The method further involves adding a pore-forming material to the mixture to form a porous complex metal oxide. EXAMPLE - A composition of MgAl2O4 was prepared as follows. Boehmite (aluminum hydroxide) needle shaped nanoparticles (11 77 g) were dispersed in water (100 ml). Magnesium nitrate hexahydrate (21 g) was dissolved in water (38 ml) and the solution was added to the dispersion. Erunon LA2 (RTM: surfactant) (24.4 g) was added, stirred and heated to 500degreesC to obtain MgAl2O4 composition. The composition was analyzed for the structure and was confirmed by X-ray diffraction trace of the material. It was also observed that the product material had retained the needle-shaped nanoparticle morphology of the original boehmite needle morphology.