The heterostructured AAO/CeO2 nanosystem fabricated by electrodeposition for charge storage and hydrophobicity

• Tilted cathode was adopted to fabricate PAAM during the second anodization.
• AAO/CeO2 nanosystem was prepared from PAAM by electrochemical deposition.
• The larger the cathode intersection angle, the more the charges are stored in the system.
• The system's hydrophobicity was improved by an increase in tilted cathode angle.
• The optimum angle of the tilted cathode is 40° for charge storage and hydrophobicity.

Tilted cathode was adopted to prepare porous anodic alumina membrane (PAAM) during the second aluminum anodic oxidation (AAO). A heterostructured AAO/CeO2 nanosystem was fabricated by filling CeO2 into the PAAM by electrochemical deposition. The larger the intersection angle of the cathode, the more the charge storage of the fabricated system. A lower potential scan rate is beneficial to the electrochemical charge storage of the system. With the cathode intersection angle increasing, the hydrophobicity of the AAO/CeO2 system is greatly improved. As the 40° is the optimum angle, the charge storage and hydrophobicity of the system increase with the increasing cathode intersection angle up to 40°. The AAO/CeO2 system could be utilized in both charge storage and self-cleaning.