Nanophotonic catalytic combustion enlightens mid-infrared light source

The tunable mid-infrared source in a broad-spectrum heralds great scientific implications and remains a challenge. Nano-localized catalytic combustion facilitates access to customizable infrared light sources. Here, we report on fabricating platinum-alumina bilayer nano-cylinder arrays for methanol catalytic combustion, which enables them to act as an array of infrared point light sources, with wavelength tunable by controlling the flow rate of methanol/air mixture. We then propose a technique of integrating nanophotonic structures with catalytic combustion to engineer infrared light emission. We demonstrate a prototype of a topological photonic crystal catalyst array in which infrared emission can be enhanced significantly with highly vertical emission. This work establishes a framework of nanophotonic catalytic combustion for infrared light sources.