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9 steels in halide solutions (F 2 , Cl 2 , Br 2 and I 2 ) has been investigated. The study involved cyclic potentiodynamic polarisation tests with subsequent examination of the specimens by both optical and scanning electron microscopy. Values of the critical concentrations of halide ions, [X 2 ] cr , beyond which pitting occurs, as well as breakdown potentials for pitting in chloride solution, have been established. In addition, the effect of the temperature over the range of 5-80uC on the critical chloride ion concentration [Cl 2 ] cr has been investigated and it has been found that temperature has a negligible effect beyond 40uC.

In the present study, we investigated the effect of an anode temperature on current transient process during porous anodic alumina growth and morphology of the anodic layers. Alumina films were formed in a 0.4 M oxalic acid at a constant voltage mode and electrolyte temperature. The temperature of the Al anode was controlled by thermoelectric Peltier element and varied in the range of 5 °C–60 °C. Surface morphology of both sides of anodic films and their cross-sections were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with subsequent statistical analysis of the SEM images by ImageJ software. It was found that when anode temperature was increased from 5 °С to 50 °С the pores diameter and interpore distance has not changed, but the porous structure became more ordered. According to these results, the rate of chemical dissolution of the barrier layer and pore walls did not depend on the anode temperature. At the anode temperature of 60 °С, pores diameter has increased 1.7 times and there was a distortion of the ordering of porous cells. It was concluded that the temperature difference between the aluminum substrate and electrolyte is an important parameter affecting the formation of ordered structure of nanoporous anodic alumina.

We report on the photocatalytic activity of ZnO layers deposited by atomic layer deposition on a porous anodic aluminum oxide substrate with hexagonal pore symmetry and varied pore dimensions. ZnO/Al2O3 composites were prepared with pore diameters in the range 93–134 nm and interpore distance in the range 185–286 nm, and their photocatalytic activity was measured for gas-phase photocatalytic oxidation of acetaldehyde at varying UV illumination intensities (0.08–3.94 mW cm−2). The results show that substrates with narrower pore diameters (<115 nm, in the case of this study) have a detrimental effect on the photocatalyst performance, despite their higher effective surface. The results are explained on the basis of limited mass transfer inside the porous structure and can be used as a guideline in the purposeful design of photocatalysts with a nanoporous or nanotubular structure.