TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Components: The first reducible metal ion comprises at least one of coinage metal ion, ion of an element from IUPAC Group 11, or ion of silver. The second metal or its ion comprises the second metal in its 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, or +6 oxidation state. The third metal or its ion comprises the third metal in its 0, +1, +2, +3, +4, +5, or +6 oxidation state. At least one of the second metal or its ion and the third metal or its ion comprises at least one transition metal or ion of a transition metal, and the third metal or metal ion comprises at least one element or ion of an element from IUPAC Group 14. The second metal comprises at least one of iron, cobalt, manganese, tin, germanium, or their ions.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Components: The composition (c1) further comprises at least one compound comprising the first reducible metal ion; at least one solvent comprising at least one polyol; and at least one of surfactant, acid or polar polymers. EXAMPLE - To a 500 ml reaction flask containing ethylene glycol (EG) (280 ml), 7.7 mM FeCl2 (1.1 ml) in EG and 7.3 mM CoCl2 (1.0 m) in EG was added. The reaction mixture was stirred and degassed with nitrogen using a glass pipette for 2 hours. Stock solutions of 0.77 M polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) in EG and 0.25 M AgNO3 in EG were also degassed with nitrogen for 60 minutes. 20 ml Syringes of the PVP and AgNO3 solutions were then prepared. The reaction mixture was heated to 145 degrees C under N2, and after the reaction mixture was held 10 minutes at the set point temperature, the AgNO3 and PVP solutions were added at a constant rate over 25 minutes via a 12 gauge TEFLON (RTM: fluoropolymer syringe needle). The reaction mixture was held at 145 degrees C for 90 minutes, after which samples were taken for optical microscopy. The reaction mixture was then allowed to cool to ambient temperature. The cooled reaction mixture (15 ml) was diluted with isopropanol (35 ml), centrifuged for 15 minutes at 1500 revolutions per minute (rpm), decanted, then re-dispersed in isopropanol (IPA) (5 ml). The resulting mixture was sampled for scanning electron microscopy. Based on the measurements of at least 100 wires, the product had an average diameter of 160 plus minus 58 nm. These wires were thicker than that of comparative wires (prepared without using CoCl2).