Stained Glass Effect in Anodic Aluminum Oxide Formed in Selenic Acid

Abstract

A combination of the unique porous structure and physical and chemical properties of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) makes it widely used in cutting-edge areas of materials science and nanotechnology. Selenic acid electrolyte provides the ability to obtain AAO with low porosity and high optical transparency and thus is promising for the preparation of AAO photonic crystals (PhCs). Here, we show the influence of crystallographic orientation of Al on the electrochemical oxidation rate in 1 M H 2 SeO 4 as well as on the growth rate, porosity, and the effective refractive index of AAO. The cyclic anodization regime is used to prepare AAO PhCs with photonic band gaps, their wavelength positions are used to measure the AAO growth rate. At an anodization voltage of 40−45 V, the growth rate varies by up to 22.6% with crystallographic orientation of Al grains, causing the stained glass effect, which can be seen with the naked eye.

Three-Dimensional Photonic Crystals Based on Porous Anodic Aluminum Oxide

“…The first example of such AAO structures with PBGs in optical spectra was demonstrated in 2007 . Later, great progress was made in precisely controlling the optical properties of 1D AAO PCs by involving advanced anodization regimes such as charge density-dependent , and optical path length-dependent voltage modulation . Along with the regular 1D AAO PCs, PBG materials with complex out-of-plane structure have also been prepared: periodic structures with multiple PBGs, , optical microcavities, − and graded-lattice PCs with a monotonically decreasing period .…”