Flavylium dye, a model compound of natural anthocyanin, has a defect that its color stability is very poor. We have tried to complex the flavylium dye with several mesoporous silicas (FSM16, MCM41 and HMS) and succeeded to enhance the photostability of the dye against visible light irradiation. We have found that the light fastness is enhanced when the dye is incorporated into the mesoporous silicas exhibiting solid acidity that derives from an aluminum impurity. The solid acidity plays a role to

Organic material characteristics of volume change and stress generation have attracted the attention of many researchers aiming to develop chemomechanical systems such as artificial muscles and polymer engines having the advantages of high energy density and silent operation. Although polymer gels offer a relatively large actuator stroke, their mechanical properties are relatively poor and the working temperature is relatively low, often limited by the evaporation of liquid if contained. We have developed an iodine-treated poly(vinyl alcohol) having extraordinarily large vapor-induced deswelling stress reaching 59 MPa, which is one to two orders of magnitude greater than those of ordinary polymer gels. Furthermore, this material has extremely large volumetric and gravimetric energy densities reaching 1.3 × 106 J m−3 and 9.6 × 102 J kg−1, respectively, and an elastic modulus of a few GPa and is heat-resistant to at least 200 °C. The high performance of this material can be demonstrated by a jump of a film. © 2014 The Authors. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2014, 52, 1357–1365