Towards photonic ink (P-ink): a polychrome,fast response metallopolymer gel photonic crystal device

We demonstrate here a new kind of planarized and oriented colloidal photonic crystal device whose optical stop-band position, width and intensity can be reversibly redox and solvent tuned over a broad wavelength range by an anisotropic expansion of the photonic lattice. The material is composed of silica microspheres in a matrix of crosslinked polyferrocenylsilane^[1], a metallopolymer network with a continuously variable state of oxidation^[2]. Optical data was fitted using a scalar wave approximation, with a congruence to experimental data, allowing facile extraction of information concerning polymer swelling behaviour. The chemomechanical polychrome optical response of the material was exceptionally fast, attaining its fully swollen state from the dry shrunken state on a sub-second time-scale.     

Supercharged CO2 Photothermal Catalytic Methanation: High Conversion,Rate, and Selectivity

To overcome the thermodynamic and kinetic impediments of the Sabatier CO₂ methanation reaction, the process must be operated under very high temperature and pressure conditions, to obtain an industrially viable conversion, rate, and selectivity. Herein, we report that these technologically relevant performance metrics have been achieved under much milder conditions using solar rather than thermal energy, where the methanation reaction is enabled by a novel nickel-boron nitride catalyst. In this regard, an in situ generated HOB⋅⋅⋅B surface frustrated Lewis's pair is considered responsible for the high Sabatier conversion 87.68 %, reaction rate 2.03 mol g_Ni⁻¹h⁻¹, and near 100 % selectivity, realized under ambient pressure conditions. This discovery bodes well for an opto-chemical engineering strategy aimed at the development and implementation of a sustainable ‘Solar Sabatier’ methanation process.