Fabrication of anodic aluminum oxide templates with small interpore distances

The influence of the electropolishing and anodization voltage on surface morphology has been carefully studied for fabrication of ordered anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) templates. In accordance with that in the anodization experiment, the size of small patterns on the foil surface formed from the electropolishing treatment increases with voltage. Using a combined method of small-voltage electropolishing and anodization, we have fabricated well-ordered templates with much smaller interpore distances compared with that under normal-voltage fabrication conditions. The Ni nanowire arrays with two small diameters are electrodeposited through the above templates, exhibiting different magnetic properties. This also helps us to clarify the inner structure of this kind of templates.