title: Free-standing alumina nanobottles and nanotubes pre-integrated into nanoporous alumina membranes.
abstract: A novel interfacial structure consisting of long (up to 5μm), thin (about 300 nm), highly-ordered, free-standing, highly-reproducible aluminum oxide nanobottles and long tubular nanocapsules attached to a rigid, thin (less than 1μm) nanoporous anodic alumina membrane is fabricated by simple, fast, catalyst-free, environmentally friendly voltage-pulse anodization. A growth mechanism is proposed based on the formation of straight channels in alumina membrane by anodization, followed by neck formation due to a sophisticated voltage control during the process. This process can be used for the fabrication of alumina nanocontainers with highly controllable geometrical size and volume, vitally important for various applications such as material and energy storage, targeted drug and diagnostic agent delivery, controlled drug and active agent release, gene and biomolecule reservoirs, micro-biologically protected platforms, nano-bioreactors, tissue engineering and hydrogen storage.
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, PO Box 218, Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia; School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
authors.forename: Jinghua
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, PO Box 218, Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia; School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Levchenko
authors.affiliation: CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, PO Box 218, Lindfield NSW 2070, Australia; School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; School of Chemistry, Physics, and Mechanical Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia.
authors.forename: Kostya Ken
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Ostrikov
keywords: alumina nanobottles; anodization; nanocontainers