title: Facile design of ultra-thin anodic aluminum oxide membranes for the fabrication of plasmonic nanoarrays.
abstract: Ultra-thin anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes are efficient templates for the fabrication of patterned nanostructures. Herein, a three-step etching method to control the morphology of AAO is described. The morphological evolution of the AAO during phosphoric acid etching is systematically investigated and a nonlinear growth mechanism during unsteady-state anodization is revealed. The thickness of the AAO can be quantitatively controlled from ∼100 nm to several micrometers while maintaining the tunablity of the pore diameter. The AAO membranes are robust and readily transferable to different types of substrates to prepare patterned plasmonic nanoarrays such as nanoislands, nanoclusters, ultra-small nanodots, and core-satellite superstructures. The localized surface plasmon resonance from these nanostructures can be easily tuned by adjusting the morphology of the AAO template. The custom AAO template provides a platform for the fabrication of low-cost and large-scale functional nanoarrays suitable for fundamental studies as well as applications including biochemical sensing, imaging, photocatalysis, and photovoltaics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, People's Republic of China. Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Hao
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xingce
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Xiangyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Wan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Lifang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Si
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nan
authors.forename: Huaiyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yongfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.forename: Teng
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Paul K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Chu