Preparation of structured sol-gel films using tape casting method

A modification of the tape casting method optimized for preparing either uniform or linearly structured sol-gel films is presented. It is demonstrated that molecular level homogeneous high viscosity sol-gel precursors can be used instead of slurries to prepare surface coatings by the tape casting method. Such method is especially well suited for preparing thick sol-gel films from relatively high viscosity sol precursor materials. The feasibility of the method is demonstrated using linearly structured ATO precursor films