Colloidal crystals as templates for zinc sulfide inverse opal via solvothermal approach

摘要

Inverse opals show copious properties as photonic crystals. 3D well-ordered ZnS inverse opal has been fabricated by a new solvothermal approach using silica colloidal spheres as a template and subsequently removing the original opal. Solvothermal method offers several advantages over previous techniques including homogenous ZnS growth within the opal voids and high quality of ZnS nanocrystals. XRD and Raman spectroscopy results confirm the quality of the nanocrystals. SEM images show that the opal and ZnS inverse opal form ordered 3D structures. The optical properties were studied by transmission spectroscopy. Satisfying match between the experimental data and calculated photonic band structure for the ZnS inverse opal was obtained. Such 3D structure of ZnS inverse opal by solvothermal method is reported for the first time. The material system is believed to have potential applications in optoelectronic and photonic devices.