The effect of the photonic stop bands (PSBs) on the spontaneous emission from tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminum (Alq3) doped in the beads of polymethylmethacrylate opal photonic crystals (PCs) is investigated in detail. The structure of PSBs in PCs has been analyzed. The steady emission data exhibits that the first- and second-order PSB could effectively influence the spectral characteristics of Alq3 through changing the incident angles. The emission dynamic data is also investigated by using the Kohlrausch strengthened exponential model, which shows that the emission decay rate of Alq3 can be decelerated as the PSB of PC approaches the emission peak of Alq3. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014, 52, 842-847