Effects of temperature and voltage mode on nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide films by one-step anodization

Many conventional anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates were performed using two-step direct current anodization (DCA) at low temperature (0–5 °C) to avoid dissolution effects. This process is relatively complex. Pulse anodization (PA) by switching between high and low voltages has been used to improve wear resistance and corrosion resistance in barrier type anodic oxidation of aluminum or hard anodization for current nanotechnology. However, there are only few investigations of AAO by hybrid pulse anodization (HPA) with normal-positive and small-negative voltages, especially for the one-step anodization, to shorten the running time. In this article, the effects of temperature and voltage modes (DCA vs. HPA) on one-step anodization have been investigated. The porous AAO films were fabricated using one-step anodization in 0.5 M oxalic acid in different voltage modes including the HPA and DCA and the environment temperature were varied at 5–15 °C. The morphology, pore size and oxide thickness of AAO films were characterized by high resolution field emission scanning electron microscope. The pore size distribution and circularity of AAO films can be quantitatively analyzed by image processing of SEM. The pore distribution uniformity and circularity of AAO by HPA is much better than DCA due to its effective cooling at relatively high temperatures. On the other hand, increasing environment temperature can increase the growth rate and enlarge the pore size of AAO films. The results of one-step anodization by hybrid pulse could promote the AAO quality and provide a simple and convenient fabrication compared to DCA.