ACS Photonics is one of the leading journals in photonic sciences, published by the American Chemical Society. This cover was created for its April 2024 special issue on Photonics for Energy, guest-edited by ICFO Professors Georgia Papadakis and Pelayo García de Arquer, alongside Prof. Emiliano Cortés.

The artwork needed to carry the conceptual weight of an entire field—photonics as an instrument of energy transition—without resorting to literal illustration. The solution was a cosmological image: a radiant core orbited by concentric halos of light particles, rendered entirely in black and white. The central sphere evokes sunlight as a primary energy source; the surrounding rings and dispersed particles suggest how photonic systems capture, redirect, and transform that energy — as they do across photovoltaics, thermophotovoltaics, plasmonic catalysis, and smart thermal materials.

The monochromatic palette was a deliberate choice. Color would have made it decorative. Black and white makes it elemental—closer to a phenomenon observed than a concept explained.