Modeling the current density in sol–gel electrophoretic deposition of titania thin film

Abstract This work deals with the combination of sol–gel process and electrophoretic deposition. Modeling of current density during electrophoretic deposition is a simple analysis done to understand the rate of deposition, which allows predicting thickness of deposited film as a function of sol–gel parameters. In this study, titania sol as a colloidal suspension is used to investigate parameters affecting the deposition rate. The sols were synthesized by controlled hydrolysis and condensation of titanium alkoxide. It is shown that the rate of deposition enhances with increasing precursor concentration and rate of hydrolysis. Therefore, increasing the precursor concentration and the water content causes higher hydrolysis and hence higher film thickness. However, increasing the acid catalyst content leads to lower film thickness. Effect of water content on increasing the film thickness is more noticeable than those of precursor concentration and acid catalyst content.