TiO2 films and powders have been synthesised using sol-gel methods with a number of sol formulation, including Ti(OiPr)4 and Ti(Onbu)4- based sols modified with diethanolamine (DEA), and a Ti(OiPr)4 based sol with HCl-catalyst. Mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (NMR) were used to interrogate the species present in solution. BaTiO3 and Bi2Ti2O7 films were prepared using sols based on titanium alkoxides, acetic acid, acetylacetone and methoxyethanol with simple barium or bismuth salts. Mesoporous TiO2, BaTiO3 and Bi2Ti2O7 films were prepared using different block copolymer templates and a hard template route based on carbon infiltration into MCM-41 mesoporous silica was investigated. Tetragonal BaTiO3 and pyrochlore Bi2Ti2O7 inverse opal films were synthesised by using 500 nm PS spheres as a template.