Facile electrophoretic deposition of functionalized Bi2O3 nanoparticles

In this work, we prepared uniform Bi2O3 nano-films through facile electrophoretic deposition (EPD) based on stable Bi2O3 nanoparticle suspension. The suspension was obtained by ball-milling Bi2O3 micro-particles in distilled water and employing paper-manufacturing waste sodium lignin sulfonate (MZS) as dispersant. The correlation between the stability of Bi2O3 nanoparticle suspension and EPD parameters including electrostatic repulsion, steric hindrance, and attractive van der Waals force was investigated. The thickness of Bi2O3 films was controlled by adjusting the voltage and time of EPD. This work opens up the opportunity for bismuth oxide nanoparticles to be assembled efficiently for various applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.