Growth of oxide nanorod arrays through sol electrophoretic deposition

This article introduces a process for the growth of oxide nanorod arrays that combines sol preparation and template-based electrophoretic deposition. First, fundamentals and practical approaches in sol-gel processing for synthesis of inorganic or inorganic/organic hybrid materials are briefly described. Second, electrophoresis in colloidal dispersions and electrophoretic deposition technique are discussed. Particular attention is devoted to the electrophoretic deposition for the growth of oxide nanorod arrays from sols. Finally, techniques similar to or derived from sol electrophoretic deposition for the growth of single crystalline oxide nanorod arrays are presented with vanadium pentoxide as a model system. Further examples are shown that the sol electrophoretic deposition is an effective method for the formation of conformal coating of thin films of oxides on metal nanorods to produce metal-oxide core-shell nanocable arrays. Relations between processing conditions, growth parameters, morphologies, micro structures, and properties of nanorod arrays are reviewed.