Dipole moment-tuned packing of TiO2 nanocrystals into monolayer films by electrophoretic deposition

Abstract

The magnitude of the electric dipole moment of TiO2 nanocrystals was tuned as a function of the shape of the nanocrystal to facilitate the formation of tightly-packed monolayers, fabricated by electrophoretic deposition. The dipole moment aided the formation of monolayers with quasi-hexagonal ordering. Voronoi tessellation analysis confirmed that nanorods facilitated higher degrees of order than nanospheres. Thermal and dilatometric analyses demonstrate that the nanocrystals' sintering temperature was reduced below 1250 °C—a useful development for device applications.