Formation of diamond nanoparticle thin films by electrophoretic deposition

Abstract

Thin films of diamond nanoparticles were prepared by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) using 0.5 wt % dispersions in water, ethanol, and 2-propanol. The film growth rate increased with increasing voltage applied to the electrodes. However, an excessive increase in voltage caused the degradation of film morphology. The optimum voltage was 4 V with an electrode separation of 5 mm. The film growth rate was higher in organic solvents than in water. The deposited film had a smooth surface with an average surface roughness comparable to the size of primary particles of the source material. It is notable that the EPD films had a considerably higher physical stability than spin-coated and cast films. The stability was further improved by thermally annealing the films. IR analysis revealed that the diamond nanoparticles have carboxy and amino groups on their surfaces. It is considered that the stability of the EPD films originate from a chemical reaction between these functional groups.

Different colloidal particle formation process between conjugated polymer and unmodified C60 in preparation of suspension for electrophoretic deposition by reprecipitation method

“…One of such methods is electrophoretic deposition. [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24] This method uses a suspension prepared from a dilute solution that cannot be used directly for other common film deposition techniques such as spin-coating. 18) Bulk heterojunction composite films using various conjugated polymers and unmodified C 60 have been fabricated by electrophoretic deposition so far.…”