Electrophoretic deposition of TiO2 nanoparticles in viscous alcoholic media

In the present study, highly viscous alcoholic media, pentanol, hexanol and heptanol were used for electrophoretic deposition of ceramic (TiO2) nanoparticles as a new approach in the EPD process. Optical and scanning electron microscopy of the obtained deposits at 50 V revealed that layers with a fairly uniform microstructure were obtained in pentanol and hexanol while the layer formed in heptanol suffered from lack of uniformity and did not cover the substrate even at higher voltages up to 200 V. It was also revealed by the atomic force microscope (AFM) studies that surface roughness of the deposited layers decreased with increasing suspension viscosity. This behavior was directly attributed to high viscosity of heptanol which strongly hinders particles movement through the media. The low dielectric constant of heptanol was also considered to decrease particle deposition.