Template-Based Growth of Various Oxide Nanorods by Sol-Gel Electrophoresis

• Published in: Advanced functional materials 2002-01, Vol.12 (1), p.59-64
• Main Authors: Limmer, S.J., Seraji, S., Wu, Y., Chou, T.P., Nguyen, C., Cao, G.Z.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electrophoretic deposition; Nanorods; Sol-gel synthesis; Template-directed synthesis
• ISSN: 1616-301X; 1616-3028
• DOI: 10.1002/1616-3028(20020101)12:1<59::AID-ADFM59>3.0.CO;2-B

The ability to form oxide nanorods is of great interest in a number of areas. In this paper, we report the template‐based growth of nanorods of several oxide ceramics, formed by means of a combination of sol–gel processing and electrophoretic deposition. Both single metal oxides (TiO2, SiO2) and complex oxides (BaTiO3, Sr2Nb2O7, and Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3) have been grown by this method. Uniformly sized nanorods of about 125–200 nm in diameter and 10 μm in length were grown over large areas with near unidirectional alignment. Desired stoichiometric chemical composition and crystal structure of the oxide nanorods was readily achieved by an appropriate procedure of sol preparation, with a heat treatment (700 °C for 15 min) for crystallization and densification. A combination of sol–gel processing and electrophoretic deposition can be used to form nanorods of several oxide ceramics. Uniformly sized nanorods (see Figure for SiO2 rods) about 125–200 nm in diameter and 10 μm in length were grown with near unidirectional alignment. The stoichiometric chemical composition and crystal structure of the oxide nanorods can be tuned by carefully choosing the process parameters.