Investigation of optical properties of artificial opal-based nanocomposites

In this work, the optical and morphological properties of an artificial opal-ZnO nanocomposite obtained by chemical deposition were investigated. ZnO nanofilm filled in the pores of artificial opals with photonic crystal properties showed a strong effect on their photonic band gap. After filling ZnO nanofilm in the pores of the opal, its photonic bandgap was found to redshift from a wavelength of 585 nm to 625 nm. The pore-filling factor of opal is calculated to be 9.1%. Under the influence of N2 laser radiation, luminescence with a maximum around 435 nm is excited in the opal-ZnO nanocomposite. Its spectrum is shifted towards shorter wavelengths compared to the luminescence spectrum of bare opal. It was discovered that the exciton luminescence of ZnO was suppressed, and the luminescence of the opal-based nanocomposite matrix was enhanced, possibly due to the transfer of energy from the ZnO nanofilm to the luminescence centers localized on the surface of the silicon dioxide from that the artificial opal is consisted.