We use low-cost hole-mask colloidal nanolithography to manufacture large-area resonant split-ring metamaterials and measure their infrared optical properties. This novel substrate is employed for antenna-assisted surface-enhanced infrared absorption measurements using octadecanethiol (ODT) and deuterated ODT, which demonstrates easy adjustability of our material to vibrational modes. Our method has the potential to make resonant plasmon-enhanced infrared spectroscopy a standard lab tool in biology, pharmacology, and medicine.

Phenylboronic acids (PBAs) are being considered for glucose sensing and controlled insulin release, because of their affinity for diol-containing molecules. The interaction of immobilized PBAs in a hydrogel matrix with glucose can lead to volumetric changes that have been used to monitor glucose concentration and release insulin. Although the interaction of PBAs with diol-containing molecules has been intensively studied, the response of PBA-modified hydrogels as a function of the specific PBA chemistry is not well understood. To understand the interaction of immobilized PBAs with glucose in hydrogel systems under physiological conditions, the glucose-dependent volumetric changes of a series of hydrogel sensors functionalized with different classes of PBAs were investigated. The volume change induced by PBA-glucose interactions is converted to the diffracted wavelength shift by a crystalline colloidal array embedded in the hydrogel matrix. The PBAs studied contain varying structural parameters such as the position of the boronic acid on the phenyl ring, different substituents on PBAs and different linkers to the hydrogel backbone. The volumetric change of the PBA modified hydrogels is found to be highly dependent on the chemical structure of the immobilized PBAs. The PBAs that appear to provide linear volumetric responses to glucose are found to also have slow response kinetics and significant hysteresis, while PBAs that show nonlinear responses have fast response kinetics and small hysteresis. Electron-withdrawing substituents, which reduce the pK a of PBAs, either increase or decrease the magnitude of response, depending on the exact chemical structure. The response rate is increased by PBAs with electronwithdrawing substituents. Addition of a methylene bridge between the PBA and hydrogel backbone leads to a significant decrease in the response magnitude. PBAs with specific desirable features can be selected from the pool of available PBAs and other PBA derivatives with desired properties can be designed according to the findings reported here.

Film star: Preformed self‐assembled 3D photonic crystals (see picture) can be infilled with a polycarbonate matrix for mechanical stability and transferred onto rough and porous optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. This technique allows the incorporation of photonic crystals onto independently processed devices, in which the transferred films have high optical quality.

A volume resetting agent is incorporated into a boronic acid functionalized hydrogel containing an embedded photonic crystal, yielding a glucose sensor material with a linear and fast response, minimal hysteresis, and good stability under simulated physiological conditions. The hydrogel can be tuned to modulate both the sensitivity and kinetics.

Hierarchical Co3O4@CdIn2S4 p–n heterojunction photocatalysts have been constructed by an in situ surface growth method for CO2 reduction with visible light.