Filipino scientists have developed a low-voltage method to transform aluminum into transparent aluminum oxide, a material once relegated to science fiction.

Transparent aluminum oxide (TAlOx), described as “a real material despite its sci-fi name,” is known for its exceptional hardness and resistance to scratches. 

Its properties make it ideal for protective coatings on electronics, optical sensors, and solar panels—and, as noted in science fiction such as Star Trek, even for starship windows and spacefaring aquariums.

Conventional techniques for producing TAlOx require expensive and complex equipment such as high-powered lasers, vacuum chambers, or large vats of dangerous acids. 

That paradigm, according to researchers, may soon shift thanks to work co-authored by Filipino scientists from Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU).

Instead of immersing entire sheets of aluminum in acid, they explained that the new process uses microdroplets of acidic solution applied to small aluminum surfaces. 

After applying an electric current, the researchers said that only two volts of electricity—slightly more than what a typical AA flashlight battery supplies—was sufficient to convert the metal into a glass-like form of transparent aluminum oxide.

The process, termed “droplet-scale anodization,” relies on the phenomenon known as “electrowetting,” in which an electric field alters the properties of a liquid droplet. 

Such precise control over the anodization process makes the method not only simpler than existing techniques but also more environmentally friendly, reducing chemical waste and energy consumption.

The breakthrough may pave the way for cheaper and more accessible TAlOx for a range of applications, from touchscreens and lenses to ultra-durable coatings for vehicles and buildings. 

As such, it promises potential advances in miniaturized electronics by converting metal surfaces into insulating, transparent layers on a microscopic scale.

The findings were published in the journal Langmuir and represent a collaboration between researchers at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Science and Engineering’s Department of Physics—Marco Laurence M. Budlayan and Raphael A. Guerrero—and colleagues at Japan’s Nara Institute of Science and Technology Division of Materials Science’s Information Device Science Laboratory, including Juan Paolo S. Bermundo, James C. Solano, Mark D. Ilasin, and Yukiharu Uraoka.