Electrochemical studies on the mechanism of the fabrication of ceramic films by hydrothermal-electrochemical technique

In this paper, electrochemical techniques are used to investigate hydrothermal-electrochemically formation of barium titanate (BT) ceramic films. For comparison, the electrochemical behaviors of anodic titanium oxide films formed in alkaline solution were also investigated both at room temperature and in hydrothermal condition at 150 °C. Film structure and morphology were identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Titanium oxide films produced at different potentials exhibit different film morphology. The breakdown of titanium oxide films anodic growth on Ti electrode plays an important roles in the formation of BT films. BT films can grow on anodic oxide/metal substrate interface by short- circuit path, and the dissolution-precipitation processes on the ceramic film/solution interface control the film structure and morphology. Based upon the current experimental results and our previous work, extensively schematic procedures are proposed to model the mechanism of ceramic film formation by hydrothermal-electrochemical method.