With the help of self-assembly, thermal sintering, selective etching techniques and sol-get process, the non-close packed (ncp) face-centered cubic (fee) photonic crystals of titanium dioxide (TiO2) hollow spheres connected by TiO2 cylindrical tubes have been fabricated using silica template. The photonic bandgap calculations indicate that the ncp structure of TiO2 hollow spheres was easier to open the pseudogaps than close packed system at the lowest energy. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.