Electrophoretic Deposition of Titania Nanoparticles in Different Alcohols: Kinetics of Deposition

Abstract

The suspension of titania nanoparticles in different alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and butanol) was prepared and triethanolamine (TEA) was used as a dispersant. The suspensions were characterized by different tests such as sedimentation, zeta potential, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was performed at various voltages and times. EPD from butanolic suspension (0.8 g/L TEA) showed the slowest kinetics, because of the low electrophoretic mobility of titania nanoparticles in it (2.40 × 10 −5 cm 2 ·(V·s) −1 ). Also, it was observed that at low voltages (5, 10, and 20 V), the EPD kinetics from methanolic suspension (0 g/L TEA) was the fastest; however, with deposition voltage, the weights of deposits formed from methanolic (0 g/L TEA) and ethanolic (2.4 g/L TEA) suspensions approached each other so that at (30 V, t ≥240 s), (40 V, t ≥120 s), and (60 V, t ≥80 s) the weight of deposits formed from the ethanolic suspension was higher. These interesting observations were interpreted by the values of the electrophoretic mobility of titania nanoparticles in methanolic (−7.78 × 10 −5 cm 2 ·(V·s) −1 ) and ethanolic (4 × 10 −5 cm 2 ·(V·s) −1 ) suspensions as well as the rate of increase in the electrical resistance of the deposits formed from these suspensions.