The anodization of aluminum for nanotechnology applications

In light of the ever-increasing demand for the development of an effective, inexpensive and technologically simple method, a naturally occurring self-organization of oxide nanopores during the anodization of aluminum has recently attracted a vast amount of research attention in the field of nanotechnology. This article gives a brief overview on some of the recent advances in the anodization of aluminum, focusing on the fabrication of highly ordered nanoporous anodic aluminum oxide. Conventional anodization, newly developed hard anodization, pulse anodization process, and generic approaches for the fabrication of three-dimensional pore structures with periodically modulated diameters are discussed.