Effect of pulse voltage and aluminum purity on the characteristics of anodic aluminum oxide using hybrid pulse anodization at room temperature

Most of the anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates are performed by potentiostatical method at 0-10 °C to inhibit the Joule's heat enhanced dissolution in aluminum oxide for well-ordered cell configuration. In this article, we propose the hybrid pulse anodization (HPA) method with effective suppression of Joule's heat generation to fabricate AAO at room temperature. Effects of purity of aluminum (Al) foils and pulse voltage on the evolution of pore characteristics have been investigated. The AAO morphology is captured by scanning electron microscope and analyzed via gray-scale imaging in order to identify the pore size distribution. The increased applied potential results in the widened pores and non-uniform cell arrangement due to the increased current density and variation. Moreover, low-purity Al foils lead to the reduced AAO distribution uniformity owing to the uneven electric field induced pits on the Al surface for inferior pore arrangement. Extending both the positive and negative pulse period from 1 s to 5 s during HPA can enhance the distribution uniformity of AAO from high-purity Al by up to about 95%. In addition, the relationship between AAO configuration and Al purity and pulse voltage is further discussed and established.