Tip-like anodic alumina

Porous anodic alumina membranes and various nanotips have been demonstrating individually their unique usefulness in current nanotechnology. We present a one-step electrochemical approach to fabricate nanoscale alumina tips (tip-like anodic alumina, TAA) in order to combine the benefits of porous anodic alumina and a nanoscale tip array. The realized TAA has an ordered tip surface with controllable aspect ratio and high sheet density of ∼1011 cm−2. The formation of alumina nanotips is due to the heat-driven dissolution of the nanopore surface. We have further shown that the surface nanostructure in TAA leads to the wettability reversal, and preferred nucleation and growth during material deposition. The easy and large-scale fabrication of TAA makes it possible for novel nanodevice applications.