Synthesis of barium strontium titanate quasi photonic crystals with nanopore arrays by sol–gel technique.

We report on the synthesis, characterization and optical properties of barium strontium titanate (BST) quasi photonic crystals (PCs) through a sol–gel technique with the porous alumina template (PAT). The structure, morphology and pore-size distribution of the samples were characterized by SEM, XRD and EDS, The Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3PCs of crystalline cubic phase with uniform pore size and ordered arrange were successfully synthesized. The obtained quasi BST PCs not only show that the nanostructure has spatially periodical orderly arrangement, but also exhibit good optical transmittance properties. The advantage of this sol–gel technique with PAT to fabricate ferroelectric (FE) nanopore arrays lies in its low cost and simplicity. This study opens a pathway for the effective fabrication and studies of FE nanopore arrays in uniquely large area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]