A study on the growth of TiO2 nanorods using sol electrophoresis

This article presents a study on the growth process for the template-based growth of TiO2 nanorods by sol electrophoretic deposition, through both experiment and simulation. Uniformly sized nanorods of approximately 45–200 nm in diameter and 10–60 μm in length can be grown over large areas with near unidirectional alignment. The nanorods have the desired stoichiometric chemical composition and anatase crystal structure, after firing to 500°C for 1 h. These nanorods have also been formed into parallel arrays on a substrate, such as indium-tin oxide (ITO) glass. The current flowing though the deposition cell has been measured, to gain insights into the growth process. Additionally, a model has been used to calculate the currents, to compare the expected growth behavior with the experimental results. Relations between processing conditions, growth parameters and the morphologies of nanorods are discussed.