title: A Highly Controllable Electrochemical Anodization Process to Fabricate Porous Anodic Aluminum Oxide Membranes.
abstract: Due to the broad applications of porous alumina nanostructures, research on fabrication of anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) with nanoporous structure has triggered enormous attention. While fabrication of highly ordered nanoporous AAO with tunable geometric features has been widely reported, it is known that its growth rate can be easily affected by the fluctuation of process conditions such as acid concentration and temperature during electrochemical anodization process. To fabricate AAO with various geometric parameters, particularly, to realize precise control over pore depth for scientific research and commercial applications, a controllable fabrication process is essential. In this work, we revealed a linear correlation between the integrated electric charge flow throughout the circuit in the stable anodization process and the growth thickness of AAO membranes. With this understanding, we developed a facile approach to precisely control the growth process of the membranes. It was found that this approach is applicable in a large voltage range, and it may be extended to anodization of other metal materials such as Ti as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Yuanjing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Qingfeng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Xue
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.affiliation: Peking University Shenzhen SOC Key Laboratory, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institution, Shenzhen, 518051, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215021, China. wlwang@suda.edu.cn.|National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, Suzhou, 215123, China. wlwang@suda.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wenli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. eezfan@ust.hk.
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fan
keywords: Anodic aluminum oxide; Controllable electrochemical anodization; Integrated charge density; Nanoporous structure