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.