Preparation of nearly monodisperse multiply coated submicrospheres with a high refractive index

Abstract Nearly monodisperse SiO 2 /TiO 2 /SiO 2 multiply coated submicrospheres with nearly monodisperse silica submicrospheres as cores, thick titania layers, and thin silica skin were prepared to increase the refractive index of complex submicrospheres while keeping their near monodispersity and perfect surface properties. Nearly monodisperse colloidal silica submicrospheres as cores with a diameter of 200 nm were synthesized by a seeding technique on the basis of the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in an aqueous ethanol solution with ammonia as catalyst. On the basis of the hydrolysis of tetrabutyl orthotitanate, a procedure combining continuous feeding with multistep coating was determined to prepare titania coatings about 40 nm thick and increase the refractive index of the complex submicrospheres. The hydrolysis of TEOS was still used to get the outmost silica coating about 10 nm thick on titania coated silica submicrospheres to eliminate random aggregation caused by the TiO 2 surface properties of the TiO 2 /SiO 2 complex submicrospheres during the final fabrication of photonic crystals.