Cover Picture: A Hierarchically Structured Ni(OH)2 Monolayer Hollow‐Sphere Array and Its Tunable Optical Properties over a Large Region (Adv. Funct. Mater. 4/2007)

The fabrication of hierarchically structured Ni(OH)₂ monolayer hollow‐sphere arrays with the shell composed of building blocks of nanoflakelets is reported on p. 644 by Weiping Cai and co‐workers. The morphology can be easily controlled by the synthesis parameters, and the arrays show a tunable optical transmission stop band. Tuning can be achieved by changing the size or morphology of the hollow spheres. Such arrays may have potential applications in optical devices, photonic crystals, and as sensors for gas detection. The fabrication of a hierarchically structured Ni(OH)₂ monolayer hollow‐sphere array with the shell composed of building blocks of nanoflakelets is demonstrated based on a colloidal monolayer and electrochemical deposition. The morphology can be easily controlled by the colloidal monolayer and deposition parameters. Importantly, such monolayer hollow‐sphere array shows a morphology‐ and size‐dependent tunable optical transmission stop band. This stop band can be easily tuned from 455–1855 nm by changing the size of the hollow spheres between 1000 and 4500 nm, and also fine‐adjusted by changing the deposition time. The array exhibits a nearly incident‐angle‐independent position of the stop band that 3D photonic crystals do not possess. This structure may have potential applications in optical devices, photonic crystals, and sensors for gas detection.