Advances in Microscale and Nanoscale Mechanisms of Electrophoretic Deposition in Aqueous Media

The processing of ceramic thick and thin films, nano- and micro-scaled ceramic structures as well as bulk ceramics of high quality and precise dimensions under electrophoretic boundary conditions requires a full understanding of the dynamics of relevant interfacial mechanisms and interactions of colloidal phases at the nano- and micro-scale. Recent findings and latest insights on the importance of electrokinetic and electrohydrodynamic interfacial processes for membrane electrophoretic depositon in aqueous media are summarised. In this context, the paper addresses the fundamental importance of surficial charge heterogeneities, electric double layer instabilities, electrokinetically induced micro-vortex dynamics, as well as lateral and medial effective electrical field gradients. These phenomena are evaluated in terms of reasonable correlations and mechanistic coincidences of general EPD deposition principles. The experimental results are based on potentiometry, in-situ videomicroscopy, high-resolution as well as secondary electron microscopy. A numerical method for the simulation of the electrophoretic deposition process is suggested based on a multiphysical Finite Element approach given by Nernst-Planck, Poisson- and Navier-Stokes equations. The results of the simulations provide adequate agreement with experimental findings.