FORMATION OF HIGH QUALITY TITANIA, ALUMINA AND OTHER METAL OXIDE TEMPLATED MATERIALS THROUGH COASSEMBLY

A co-assembly method for synthesizing inverse photonic structures is described. The method includes combining an onium compound with a sol-gel precursor to form metal oxide (MO) nanocrystals, where each MO nanocrystal has crystalline and amorphous content. The MO nanocrystals are combined with templating particles to form a suspension. A solvent is evaporated from the suspension to form an intermediate or compound product, which then undergoes calcination to produce an inverse structure.