Fabrication of nanomaterials using porous alumina templates

Nanofabrication by self-organization methods has attracted much attention owing to the fact that it enables mass production without the use of expensive lithographical tools, such as an electron beam exposure system. Porous alumina can be fabricated electrochemically through anodic oxidation of aluminum by means of such a self-organization method, yielding highly ordered arrays of nanoholes several hundreds down to several tens of nanometers in size. This paper is an overview of recent research on porous alumina science and technology, nanohole array self-organization conditions and mechanisms, various methods of nanostructure formation using porous alumina templates, optical and magnetic nanofabrication, perspectives on electronic nano device fabrication and chemical/biological sensors and membranes.