Fabrication of multifunctional SnO2 and SiO2-SnO2 inverse opal structures with prominent photonic band gap properties

We present here a simple two step infiltration and calcination involved technique to obtain high optical quality inverse opal structures of SiO2, SnO2 and SiO2-SnO2 binary oxide inverse opal structures. Scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM) and X-ray diffraction measurements are carried out to investigate the structural features of the opals. High resolution TEM measurements reveal the uniform distribution of SnO2 nanocrystals throughout the inverse opal matrix. Optical properties along with theoretical fitting reveal the interesting photonic band gap features of the opals with high optical quality as well as the high porosity of these structures. The well-known multifunctional properties of SnO2 like photorefractivity, low phonon energy for luminescent materials and gas sensing features show the advantages of these inverse opal structures can be favorable in the development of photonics and sensors. (C) 2013 Optical Society of America