Heat treatment and photoluminescence of 3-D vertical arrays of Al2O3 nanopores on Al fabrics or foils

• Porous anodic alumina with highly ordered array of nanopores was prepared on Al fabric or foil by a two-step anodization process.
• The porous anodic alumina layer is detached from the Al wire substrate after annealing at 600 °C.
• The white Al2O3 nanopores fabric was dyed to pink after Rhodamine B introduced into the pores of anodic layer.
• The intensities of photoluminescence increase first, at 500 °C reach a maximum value, and then decrease.

Porous anodic alumina (PAA) with highly ordered arrays of nanopores was prepared on Al fabrics or foils by a two-step anodization process. Studies on structural and thermal properties of the prepared PAA membranes were carried out. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were performed on the prepared PAA membranes at room temperature and 600 °C. Photoluminescence (PL) properties of PAA on Al foils under different annealing temperatures (100–600 °C) and PAA on Al fabrics before-after dyeing by Rhodamine B (RhB) have been investigated. For PAA on Al foils, with the increase of the annealing temperature, the PL intensity increases first, which reaches a maximum value at 500 °C, and then it decreases. For PAA on Al fabrics after dyeing by RhB, the white sample changed to pink and a new peak at 580 nm in the PL curve was found.