Porosity of anodic alumina membranes from electrochemical measurements

A procedure based on the high-field mechanism of the growth of anodic oxides was developed in order to evaluate the morphological features of porous layers. Since the thickness of the barrier film, separating the porous layer from the metal, does not change during the steady-state growth of an anodic porous layer, the rate of displacement of the metal-oxide interface to the metal direction must be equal to the rate of displacement of the pore base to the oxide direction. As a consequence, porosity can be expressed in terms of the ratio i diss/i ion, where i diss is the dissolution current density at the pore base, and i ion is the ionic current density at the metal-oxide interface. Pore dia…