Fabrication of Inorganic Inverse Opals by Hetero-Colloidal Self-Assembly

Abstract

We demonstrate the fabrication of inorganic inverse opals of silica and titania by a colloidal templating method. Hetero-colloids of polymeric particles and inorganic nanoparticles are formed and, on subsequent heat treatment, were found to yield inverse opals. The presence of nanoparticles does not interfere with the packing of the polymeric particles. The inverse opals exhibit photonic bandgaps in the wavelength of visible light that can be tuned by changing the size of the polymeric particles and the calcination temperatures.