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A method based on electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been developed to produce uniform deposits of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes on stainless‐steel substrates. Aqueous suspensions were used under constant voltage conditions in the range of 5–50 V, with deposition times ranging from 0.5 to 10 min. The thickness of the coatings was controlled by variation of voltage and deposition time during EPD. Coatings of up to 10 μm thickness were achieved, with a homogeneous microstructure. The EPD technique is fast, effective, and can be applied to complex shapes. Possible applications are in heat extraction devices or porous coatings for tissue engineering scaffolds.

Electrophoretic deposition EPD is gaining increasing interest as a processing technique for production of novel inorganic nanostructured and nanoscale materials, including the use of nanoparticles, nanotubes, nanorods and related nanomaterials. Recent advances in the electrophoretic deposition of a great variety of ceramic and metallic nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and other inorganic nanoscaled materials are discussed in this review. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the utility of an applied electric field to manipulate and control the deposition of electrically charged nanoscaled particles and other nanostructures on solid surfaces from liquid suspensions. A wide range of applications has been reviewed, demonstrating the high versatility and suitability of the EPD technique as a convenient nanotechnology processing tool. Nano-enamels and structural coatings, electrodes and films for fuel cells, capacitors, sensors and other microelectronic devices, fibre-reinforced and graded ceramic composites, nanostructured films and coatings for electronic, biomedical, optical, catalytic and electrochemical applications are some of the examples discussed. The combination of sol-gel methods and EPD for production of a variety of nanomaterials is also reviewed.

Borosilicate glass matrix composites reinforced with 10 wt% multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were fabricated using a conventional powder processing route and uniaxial hot pressing. The microstructure of the composites contained aggregates of CNTs which had not been infiltrated by the viscous glass during hot-pressing leaving a ~9% residual porosity. As a result, the mechanical properties (hardness, elastic modulus, fracture toughness and fracture strength) were not improved in comparison to those of the monolithic glass matrix. However the brittleness index (B), which is the ratio of hardness to fracture toughness, decreased with addition of CNTs, which indicates that the composites should exhibit improved contact damage and wear resistance. Electrical resistivity measurements revealed that the addition of 10 wt% CNTs to the normally insulating borosilicate glass decreased its resistivity to 13 W cm in comparison to the high value (1015 W cm) of the monolithic glass

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