Disclosed herein is an inverse photonic structure comprising a first component comprising air holes or colloidal particles; and a metal oxide matrix comprising metal oxide nanocrystals, wherein the metal oxide nanocrystals comprise at least one of: a transition metal, titania, zirconia, alumina, iron oxide, zinc oxide, tin oxide, beryllia, a noble metal oxide, platinum group metal oxides, hafnia, molybdenum oxide, tungsten oxide, rhenium oxide, tantalum oxide, niobium oxide, vanadium oxide, chromium oxide, scandium oxide, yttria, lanthanum oxide, ceria, a rare earth oxide, thorium oxide, uranium oxide, other rare earth oxides, or a combination thereof, wherein the inverse photonics structure is crack-free for at least 10,000 repeat units of the first component.