ABSTRACT
The production of smooth, densely-packed, and continuous casts of colloidal nanoceramics into architectures for applications ranging from anti-corrosion coatings to transparent optical components and devices is a rapidly developing field. Post-processing procedures, such as, sintering that can form single crystalline or polycrystalline masses from the constituent materials and improves densification, robustness, and mechanical integrity, markedly can enhance the feasibility and durability of the dense-packing of the nanoparticles. To achieve high density materials post-sintering, we must explore various techniques that facilitate tight packing. Available methods to cast nanoparticle films directly onto targeted substrates, such as, Langmuir-Blodgett, layer-by-layer deposition, thermal evaporation, and spin coating, have recognized limitations, including the inability to achieve both large-scale nanoparticle ordering, poor chemical and structural robustness, and notably inferior film assembly rates [15]. Indeed, for nanoparticle composite films to be competitive with single crystalline materials, the facile and rapid production of homogeneous, densely packed, and topographically smooth nanoparticle films must be realized. Of the available schemes to
fabricate such nanoparticle films, electrophoretic deposition (EPD) may be the only technique that includes superior deposition rate, size scalability, and densely-packed, smooth films. The superior packing density realized by EPD should engender high fracture strength in the films because of the size, shape or topology of the underlying substrate or surface. This chapter discusses the investigation of the EPD of TiO2 ceramic nanoparticles (NPs).
