Tin and mixed tin/germanium thin films hold great potential for a variety of different applications such as anodes for lithium ion batteries or optical components in new LED developments. While the physical and chemical properties of these materials are promising, the fabrication of nanostructures with tunable composition and electronic properties is eminently important to overcome several problems in application. In this work we report the preparation and characterization of inverse opal-structured Sn and Sn/Ge thin films with a pore size of 200 nm on a wide variety of substrates obtained by a simple, up-scalable wet-chemical synthetic route involving soluble [Sn 9 ] 4- , [Ge 9 ] 4- and mixed Sn/Ge Zintl clusters. The resulting honeycomb structures are characterized by SEM, EDX, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy. Their porous structure and tuneable composition makes them attractive candidates for electrochemical applications such as anode materials.