Sol-gel electrophoretic deposition for the growth of oxide nanorods

By combining sol-gel processing with electrophoretic deposition, we have developed a new method for the growth of oxide nanorods. Both single metal oxides (TiO2, SiO2) and complex oxides-BaTiO3, Sr2Nb2O7, and Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O-3 -have been grown by this method. Uniformly sized nanorods 45-200 nm in diameter and 10 mum in length can be grown over large areas with near unidirectional alignment. The nanorods have the desired stoichiometric chemical composition and crystal structure, after firing to 500-700degreesC for up to one hour.