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Nanoporous Anodic Aluminum Oxide or AAO  (also known as Porous Aluminum Oxide – PAO, or NanoPorous Alumina Membranes – NPAM) is a self-organized material with a highly uniform structure resembling nanoscale “honeycomb”.  AAO is a popular template for bottom-up nanofabrication and is widely used in nanotechnology, life science, separation and other research areas. Read more about unique features and benefits of AAO  or visit InRedox’ Nanofabrication Toolbox to review AAO products.

Nanoporous AAO Wafers are free-standing disks or rectangles of AAO that are thick enough to handle (20 to 200 µm).  The nanopores in these products go all the way from one face to another, without a normally present dense barrier layer at the bottom of the pores.  This form factor is the most common choice for many applications.  Visit the product page for AAO wafers or AAO wafer variety packs to purchase these products:

The most common form factors for AAO are:

  1. AAO films attached to Al substrates.
    Conformal nanoporous AAO coatings are formed on the surface of Al in standard anodization processes, when Al is electrochemically oxidized in certain acidic electrolytes.  Resulting AAO films are firmly adhered to the substrate, which cold be Al foil, sheet, tube or any other shape or components.  Anodization is commonly used to provide corrosion and mechanical protection to Al products, as we  as for decorative purposes.  AAO films on Al are also popular as nanotemplates, especially when thin AAO, which is too fragile to be available as AAO wafer, is required.  At the bottom of the pores, a dense layer of alumina (aka the barrier layer) is inherently present. This barrier layer is electrically isolating and could be “thinned” to facilitate electrochemical deposition.
  2. AAO films on different (non-Al) substrates.  
    AAO films could be created on other substrates (glass, sapphire, silicon wafers, plastic and many other materials) by first depositing thin film of Al onto such substrate, followed by anodization process to convert Al into AAO.  Non-conductive substrates
  3. AAO Wafers.
    AAO wafers are relatively thick free-standing films of AAO that have been separated from Al substrate.  These wafers could be as thin as 20 µm (and for 5 mm wafers as low as 5-10 µm) and as thick as 200-500 µm.  Due to their application primarily as a template for deposition of materials inside the pores, the dense barrier layer is removed to open the pores on both faces of the AAO.   AAO Wafers have architecture identical to AAO Membranes with symmetric pore structure.
  4. AAO Membranes.
    AAO Membranes are similar to AAO Wafers in that they are also free-standing films of AAO.  However, the structure and chemistry of nanopores in AAO membranes reflect the requirements of diverse separation applications and might include: anisotropic pores with branched and tapered shape for size based filtration, different surface chemistry in the pore walls for chemical affinity separation, thin dense layer of alumina on one face as a support for other materials (i.e., graphene), and other separating materials deposited inside the pores.

Read more about AAO properties and applications.

Both terms refer to a well-defined and free-standing piece of AAO, normally of round or rectangular shape and sufficient thickness (typically 20 to 200 micrometers) to allow manual handling.   However, there are differences in the architecture and chemistry of the nanopores, primarily driven by the requirements of the different end uses:

AAO Wafers:

  • Typically used as nanotemplates for deposition of materials inside the pores of AAO.
  • The barrier layer is removed to provide access to the pores from both faces.
  • Pores are uniform and aligned cylinders that propagate all the way through AAO thickness
  • Pore structure is typically isotropic, meaning the pore diameter and pore density do not change along the pore length.
  • As an option, pore diameter could be modulated along the pore length.
  • Metal contact is applied to AAO wafers as an option for templated electrodeposition.

AAO Membranes:

  • Application primarily involve separation of species by size, diffusion or chemical affinity.
  • The pore structure could be either isotropic as in AAO wafers (for transport studies or diffusion based deparation) or anisotropic (for size-based filtration).
  • In anisotropic membranes, to enable higher permeance in size-based separation, up to 98% of the AAO thickness has larger pores (100-200 nm) and porosity (25-40%).  These larger pores branch and/or taper into smaller pores in a thin layer on one face of the membrane to provide specific size cutoff.
  • Other type of membranes can be realized with AAO: (a)  the pore chemistry could be modified to provide affinity-based separation, (b) plugs of other materials could be deposited in the pores for separation based on selective  permeance (i.e., Pd alloys for H2 separation) or sub-nm pores (i.e,  zeolites for molecular sieving).

The smallest pore size that could be obtained in AAO through anodization is ~2-3 nm. Such pores are formed at very low anodization voltages and temperatures, which results in very slow growth rate, and thus could be realized only in very thin AAO films.  Reducing anodization voltage further does not result in organized porous structure.  Increasing AAO thickness beyond 1-5 µm requires faster growth conditions (e.g., greater voltage, higher temperature),  which raises the lower limit of the pore diameter.  As a result, the smallest pore diameter available for free-standing AAO wafers is ~5 nm for up to 20 µm thickness and ~10 nm  for up to 50 µm thickness.

Small pore size could be also achieved via conformal deposition of aluminum oxide or other materials on the walls of larger pores using processes such as Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD), sol-gel deposition or solution polymerization.  InRedox has capabilities to implement all of these processes as a custom order – contact us with your requirements.

The largest pore size that could be obtained in AAO through anodization is 250-300 nm. Such pores are formed at very high (hundreds of volts) anodization voltages in specially formulated electrolytes and could only be realized in AAO films  at least 5 µm in thickness or AAO wafers of 20 µm and up in thickness.

Further increase of the pore size (often referred to as “pore widening”) could be achieved via conformal etching of aluminum oxide in the walls using carefully controlled etch conditions.  InRedox uses such processes to expand the upper limit of the pore diameter up to 500 nm. Contact us with your requirements and to for availability.

InRedox offers technical and application support to our customers free of charge.   Our team has decades of experience with using nanostructured materials in research and product development and  is always ready to help you achieve the results you need. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you any questions regarding using our products in your work.

We offer two primary shipping options:

United States Postal Service (USPS) Priority Mail:

  • Standard shipping option for US customers.
  • Pros: most economical ($10 in the US, $35-50 worldwide for small package), free tracking, free to US customers for website orders in excess of $300, 1-3 days delivery to most addresses in the continental US
  • Cons: delivery time varies from 2 to 4 weeks for international shipments, reliability of local delivery services varies from country to country, custom clearance is much slower that for FedEx or DHL (for example, we had packages returned as unclaimed from UK and Spain)

Courier Delivery (FedEx or DHL, depending on your location):

  • Recommended for all international customers, available for US customers for faster delivery
  • Pro: speedy delivery (4 to 8 days for most locations worldwide), highly reliable and trackable mostly unaffected by locality, can use customer account
  • Cons: higher cost ($60 to 80 for small packages for most locations, up to $100-120 for some countries that impose local surcharges )

Please note that order delivery for international customers could be affected by the package processing at local customs office.  In our experience, packages sent by either DHL or FedEx in most cases are processed expeditiously.

How long does it take for you to get your order depends on two factors:

  • product availability or “lead time”, which is affected by the our inventory at the time your order is placed
  • order delivery time depends on the shipping option you selected at the time of placing your order and your location.

Lead time:

  • Products that are in stock will ship in 1-3 business days
  • Out of stock or custom products will ship in 2-4 week, depending on the backlog at the time of placing the order.
  • The entire order will ship when all items are available; additional shipping charges will apply if partial shipment is requested.

Shipping time (see related FAQ for shipping options):

  • For US customers, we use USPS Priority Mail, which takes 1 to 3 days for most locations
  • For international customers, we recommend FedEx or DHL services for trouble-free delivery. Depending on the country and final destination, DHL or FedEx packages arrive in 4 to 10 business days.  Note that international shipments could be subject to delays at the local customs office.

Website Orders  – preferred option for standard products:

  • Navigate to the product you want in the Products section of this website
  • Select required specifications and quantities from the pull-down menus, press “Add to Cart” button
  • Repeat as needed
  • Go to cart and follow prompts to checkout, make sure to provide correct billing and shipping addresses, select shipping options and payment method
  • The product is shipped once we receive confirmation of your payment.

Online Invoice  – preferred option for custom products:

  • Make a list of products and specifications you need
  • Contact InRedox customer service to request an estimate and/or an online credit card invoice
  • InRedox will email you a link to an online invoice
  • Follow the prompts to complete the transaction
  • The product is shipped once we receive confirmation of your payment

Formal purchase order for standard and/or custom products

  • Request a quote for products you need and submit to your administration for processing
  • Your organization may contact us for additional information to register InRedox as a vendor
  • Your organization submits a formal purchase order to InRedox
  • InRedox issues an invoice
  • Your organization issues a payment per agreed payment terms
  • InRedox ships the product

Payment options (see next question for details)

  • Credit Card: website orders, online invoices
  • PayPal:  website orders, online invoices
  • Check (US customers only): formal purchase orders, website orders
  • ACH (US customers only): formal purchase orders
  • Wire Transfer: formal purchase orders from international customers
Payment Option Order Type Customer
Credit Card Website Order, Online Invoice any
Pay Pal Website Order, Online Invoice any
Check Website Order, Purchase Order US customers only
ACH Purchase Order US customers only
Wire Transfer Purchase Order International Customers only
  • Website Order: order for standard products placed via website
  • Online invoice: an online invoice issued by InRedox for custom products
  • Purchase order: a written purchase order submitted by a customer based on a quote issued by InRedox