Optical properties of thin anodic alumina membranes formed in a solution of tartaric acid

Abstract Anodic alumina membranes were obtained in an aqueous solution of tartaric acid at constant current density. An integrated investigation of the effect of heating temperature on optical properties and its correlation with structural transformation of anodic alumina has been performed. In the case of the as anodized membrane, the optical band gap is about 3.25 eV. With growing heating temperature of the samples from 500 to 700 °C the band gap increases from 3.35 to 3.5 eV. As the value of the optical gap is much less then for the anodic alumina (about 6.5 eV) it was concluded that the absorption of the light of energy of 3.25–3.5 eV is not fundamental and is due to the presence of impurities. By Fourier-transformed infrared and photoluminescence spectroscopies the possibility of formation of partially oxidized amorphous carbon was shown in the as-anodized and heat treated membranes. The model for incorporation of oxidized amorphous carbon was also suggested. Similar to the a-C:H the optical properties of the tartaric acid anodic alumina are determined by the fraction of sp2-sites in sp3-matrix. The increase in the impurity gap value with increasing heating temperature is believed to be due to ordering in the structure of oxidized amorphous carbon.

[1]  V. Lysenko,et al.  Effects of hydrogen bond redistribution on photoluminescence of a-SiC:H films under thermal treatment , 2006 .

[2]  F. Keller,et al.  Structural Features of Oxide Coatings on Aluminum , 1953 .

[3]  D. Losic,et al.  Pore opening detection for controlled dissolution of barrier oxide layer and fabrication of nanoporous alumina with through-hole morphology , 2009 .

[4]  A. W. Smith.  THE IMPEDANCE, RECTIFICATION, AND ELECTROLUMINESCENCE OF ANODIC OXIDE FILMS ON ALUMINUM , 1959 .

[5]  S. Tajima,et al.  Organic compounds in aluminum oxide films anodized in aqueous carboxylic acids. , 1974 .

[6]  Kenji Fukuda,et al.  Ordered Metal Nanohole Arrays Made by a Two-Step Replication of Honeycomb Structures of Anodic Alumina , 1995, Science.

[7]  F. Urbach.  The Long-Wavelength Edge of Photographic Sensitivity and of the Electronic Absorption of Solids , 1953 .

[8]  S. Tajima.  Luminescence, breakdown and colouring of anodic oxide films on aluminium , 1977 .

[9]  M. Shimura.  Behavior of Maleic Acid during the Anodization of Aluminum , 1978 .

[10]  A. Rauf,et al.  Preparation of transparent anodic alumina with ordered nanochannels by through-thickness anodic oxidation of aluminum sheet , 2007 .

[11]  Yuzo Yamamoto,et al.  Nature of the carboxylate species incorporated in anodic alumina films formed in oxalic acid solution , 1983 .

[12]  Wenming Qiao,et al.  Catalysts in syntheses of carbon and carbon precursors , 2006 .

[13]  A. Sellinger,et al.  Origin of the bottlenecks in preparing anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) templates on ITO glass. , 2008, ACS nano.

[14]  E. Halliop,et al.  Anodic oxidation of porous carbon , 1997 .

[15]  D. Kotsikau,et al.  Impurity-defect structure of anodic aluminum oxide produced by two-sided anodizing in tartaric acid , 2012 .

[16]  G. C. Wood,et al.  The morphology and mechanism of formation of porous anodic films on aluminium , 1970, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. A. Mathematical and Physical Sciences.

[17]  Wei-min Liu,et al.  Optical constants of anodic aluminum oxide films formed in oxalic acid solution , 2008 .

[18]  R. Grigorovici,et al.  Optical Properties and Electronic Structure of Amorphous Germanium , 1966, 1966.

[19]  J. Tauc,et al.  Absorption edge and internal electric fields in amorphous semiconductors , 1970 .

[20]  P. Mardilovich,et al.  New and modified anodic alumina membranes Part I. Thermotreatment of anodic alumina membranes , 1995 .

[21]  Ke‐long Huang,et al.  Optical properties of alumina membranes prepared by anodic oxidation process , 2007 .

[22]  Edge absorption spectra of crystalline and glassy PbGeS3 , 2007 .

[23]  K. Nakamoto.  Infrared and Raman Spectra of Inorganic and Coordination Compounds , 1978 .

[24]  H. L. Li,et al.  Photoluminescence effect of Ru dye on alumina membranes with ordered pore arrays , 2002 .

[25]  C. Kittel.  Introduction to solid state physics , 1954 .

[26]  Jianhua Jiang,et al.  Investigation on highly ordered porous anodic alumina membranes formed by high electric field anodization , 2008 .

[27]  A. E. Ermakov,et al.  Luminescence properties of nanostructured alumina ceramic , 2008 .

[28]  J. Erostyák,et al.  Amorphous carbon luminescence; excitation and emission in a broad energy range , 1998 .

[29]  G. Kido,et al.  Conduction band caused by oxygen vacancies in aluminum oxide for resistance random access memory , 2012 .

[30]  Sachiko Ono,et al.  Self-ordering of anodic porous alumina formed in organic acid electrolytes , 2005 .

[31]  J. Robertson.  Diamond-like amorphous carbon , 2002 .

[32]  C. Prater,et al.  Nanowire Array Composites , 1994, Science.

[33]  S. B. Krupanidhi,et al.  Synthesis and structural characterization of the antiferroelectric lead zirconate nanotubes by pulsed laser deposition , 2007 .

[34]  W. Shen,et al.  The fabrication of ordered nanoporous metal films based on high field anodic alumina and their selected transmission enhancement , 2008, Nanotechnology.