Homogeneous coating of photonic macroporous oxides with inorganic nanocrystals

A simple method to obtain homogeneous sub-monolayer coverage of metal oxide and chalcogenide nanocrystals onto porous oxide supports is described. Quantitative nanoparticle coverage was probed using photonic macroporous oxide supports. Composites of nanocrystals of TiO2, Fe3O 4 or CdS dispersed onto macroporous SiO2 or ZrO 2 all show a predictable linear shift in the photonic stop band position.