Morphology and Wettability of Nanoporous Aluminium Oxide Film Prepared by Anodization

Abstract

Anodic aluminium oxide (AAO) is a well-known material for nanofabrication. To obtain highly ordered nanoporous array, there is anodization process. AAO were fabricated by anodization method utilizing high purity aluminium foil as the substrate. The substrate was degreased with ultrasonic cleaner for 15 minutes. Then the substrate was anodized in an electrolyte of 0.3 M oxalic acid with various potentials: 10, 20, 30, and 40 V and various durations: 10, 30, 60, 120, and 180 minutes at room temperature. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) was used to investigate surface morphology of nanoporous aluminium oxide film. The wettability of nanoporous aluminium oxide surface was estimated by measuring water contact angle (WCA) of water droplets on the nanoporous aluminium oxide surface. The FE-SEM images showed that the pore size was in the range of 12 - 81 nm. This result can indicated that nanopore size of AAO film increased with the increasing of anodization potentials and anodization time. The water contact angle of AAO samples were approximately 90.55 - 44.33 degrees. The result of measurement proved that super hydrophilic surface obtained with the increasing of nanopore size and high porosity of AAO.