Gomez Gomez, AlbertoAlbertoGomez GomezRibas Gomes, DiegoDiegoRibas GomesWinhard, BenediktBenediktWinhardMaragno, Laura G.Laura G.MaragnoKrekeler, TobiasTobiasKrekelerRitter, MartinMartinRitterPagnan Furlan, KalineKalinePagnan Furlan2023-09-182023-09-182023-08Journal of Materials Science 58 (32): 12993-13008 (2023-08)https://hdl.handle.net/11420/43317Thermal barrier coatings are essential materials systems for insulating and protecting substrates exposed to high temperatures. In such systems, the heat transfer has three possible paths: conduction, convection and irradiation. The higher the operating temperature, the more important it is to control or protect against the radiative component, since the radiative heat flux becomes non-negligible. The radiation can be controlled by the use of ceramic-based photonic nanostructures, namely photonic crystals and photonic glasses, creating so-called reflective thermal barrier coatings. In this work, mullite inverse photonic glasses (PhG) have been produced by thermally induced reaction on sol–gel-based silica structures coated with nanometric films of Al2O3 by atomic layer deposition. The conversion to mullite was carried out following a two-stage heat-treatment. The pre-annealing associated with the further mullite formation results in an excellent structural stability of these PhGs up to 1500 °C, being able to retain their high reflectivity in the near infrared range. Therefore, this structure can be considered for next-generation reflective thermal barrier coatings. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]en1573-48032023321299313008Springer Science + Business Media B.V.https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/PhysicsJournal Article10.15480/882.858010.1007/s10853-023-08844-210.15480/882.8580Journal Article