On the variation in the electrical properties and ac conductivity of through-thickness nano-porous anodic alumina with temperature

The electrical response of self-organized through-thickness anodic alumina with hexagonal arrangement of cylindrical pores has been studied as a function of temperature. Mechanically stable thick porous anodic alumina was prepared, by through-thickness anodic oxidation of aluminum sheet in sulfuric acid, with extremely high aspect ratio pores exhibiting fairly uniform diameter and interpore distance. It was observed that the electrical properties of through-thickness anodic alumina are very sensitive to minute changes in temperature and the role of surface conductivity in governing its electrical response cannot be overlooked. At high frequencies, intrinsic dielectric response of anodic alumina was dominant. The frequency-dependent conductivity behavior at low and intermediate frequencies was explained on the basis of correlated barrier hopping (CBH) and quantum mechanical tunneling (QMT) models, respectively. Experimental data was modeled using an equivalent circuit consisting of Debye circuit, for bulk alumina, parallel to surface conduction path. The surface conduction was primarily based on two circuits in series, each with a parallel arrangement of a resistor and a constant phase element. This suggested heterogeneity in alumina pore surface, possibly related with islands of physisorbed water separated by the regions of chemisorbed water. Temperature dependence of some circuit elements has been analyzed to express different charge migration phenomena occurring in nano-porous anodic alumina.