Application of Ionic Liquids in the Electrophoretic Deposition of Oxide Layers

Abstract

Ionic Liquids (IL) are novel materials with a wide range of applications. The variable combination of organic cation and inorganic anion offers the possibility of tuning their properties. In the present investigation we test the application of different ionic liquids as charging agents for the preparation of stable oxide suspensions for direct use in electrophoretic deposition to produce oxide layers on different substrates. Main objective of these investigations was to prove that this substance class constitutes suitable additives for successful electrophoretic deposition (EPD). As one key parameter for the EPD process is the particle charge, a big part of our investigations involved the measurement of the zeta-potential of in alcoholic suspension under the influence of phosphonium and imidazolium based ionic liquids using a micro-electrophoresis measurement