Photoinduced swing of a diarylethene thin broad sword shaped crystal: a study on the detailed mechanism

Photo-triggered Phase Transition of Crystals and Photoactuation

Photo-triggered phase transition is a new type of phase transition in which a photochromic crystal with a thermal phase transition transforms into an identical high-temperature phase in a temperature region lower than the thermal phase transition temperature upon light irradiation. Here, we report a second crystal that exhibits a photo-triggered phase transition, thereby demonstrating that the photo-triggered phase transition is a general phenomenon that occurs in crystals. When the chiral salicylidenephenylethylamine crystal was irradiated with ultraviolet (UV) light, the photo-triggered phase transition occurred in the temperature range -30 to -10 °C. The photo-triggered phase transition is induced by local stress due to trans-keto molecules produced by photoisomerization near the irradiated surface. Crystal cantilevers exhibited stepwise bending by the combination of the photo-triggered phase transition and photoisomerization. Alternate irradiation with UV and visible light achieved locomotion of single crystals driven by repeated stepwise bending. Finally, a detailed comparison of photo-triggered and non-photo-triggered phase transition crystals revealed that a sufficient molecular conformation change in affordable crystal voids, smooth photoisomerization, and most likely a chiral molecular arrangement are required for inducing the photo-triggered phase transition.

Organic Crystal Packing Is Key to Determining the Photomechanical Response

Organic photomechanical crystals have great promise as molecular machines, but their development has been hindered by a lack of clear theoretical design principles. While much research has focused on the choice of the molecular photochrome, density functional theory calculations here demonstrate that crystal packing has a major impact on the work densities that can be produced by a photochrome. Examination of two diarylethene molecules reveals that the predicted work densities can vary by an order of magnitude across different experimentally known crystal structures of the same species. The highest work densities occur when molecules are aligned in parallel, thereby producing a highly anisotropic photomechanical response. These results suggest that a greater emphasis on polymorph screening and/or crystal engineering could improve the work densities achieved by photomechanical engines. Finally, an inherent thermodynamic asymmetry is identified that biases photomechanical engines to exhibit higher work densities in the forward stroke direction.

Intersectional Effects of Crystal Features on the Actuation Performance of Dynamic Molecular Crystals

Despite being researched for decades, shape-shifting molecular crystals have yet to claim their spot as an actuating materials class among the primary functional materials. While the process for developing and commercializing materials can be lengthy, it inevitably starts with building an extensive knowledge base, which for molecular crystal actuators remains scattered and disjointed. Using machine learning for the first time, we identify inherent features and structure-function relationships that fundamentally impact the mechanical response of molecular crystal actuators. Our model can factor in different crystal properties in tandem and decipher their intersectional and combined effects on each actuation performance. This analysis is an open invitation to utilize interdisciplinary expertise in translating the current basic research on molecular crystal actuators into technology-based development that promotes large-scale experimentation and prototyping.

Photoresponsive Diarylethene-Containing Polymers: Recent Advances and Future Challenges

Photoresponsive polymers have attracted increasing interest owing to their potential applications in anticounterfeiting, information encryption, adhesives, etc. Among them, diarylethene (DAE)-containing polymers are one of the most promising photoresponsive polymers and have unique thermal stability and fatigue resistance compared to azobenzene- and spiropyran-containing polymers. Herein, the design of DAE-containing polymers based on different types of structures, including main chain polymers, side-chain polymers, and crosslinked polymers, is introduced. The mechanism and applications of DAE-containing polymers in anti-counterfeiting, information encryption, light-controllable adhesives, and photoinduced healable materials are reviewed. In addition, the remaining challenges of DAE-containing polymers are also discussed.

Photo-controllable heterostructured crystals of metal-organic frameworks via reversible photocycloaddition

Metal-organic framework (MOF)-based heterostructures are attractive because they can provide versatile platforms for various applications but are limited by complex liquid epitaxial growth methods. Here, we employ photolithography to fabricate and control MOF-based heterostructured crystals via [4 + 4] photocycloaddition. A layered dysprosium-dianthracene framework, [Dy(NO3)3(depma2)1.5]·(depma2)0.5 (2) [depma2 = pre-photodimerized 9-diethylphosphonomethylanthracene (depma)] underwent a single-crystal-to-single-crystal transition at 140 °C to form [Dy(NO3)3(depma)(depma2)]·(depma2)0.5 (3). The dissociated anthracene moieties are face-to-face π-π interacted allowing a reversible photocycloaddition between 2 and 3. This structural transformation causes a luminescence switch between blue and yellow-green and thus can be used to fabricate erasable 2 + 3 heterostructured crystals for rewritable photonic barcodes. The internal strain at the heterostructure interface leads to photobending and straightening of the crystal, a photomechanical response that is fast, reversible and durable, even operating at 140 °C, making it promising for photoactuation. This work may inspire the development of intelligent MOF-based heterostructures for photonic applications.

Contactless Manipulation of Write-Read-Erase Data Storage in Diarylethene Ferroelectric Crystals

The optical manipulation of polarization has gained widespread attention because it offers a promising route to new contactless memories and switches. However, the current research basically focuses on the photocontrol of data storage rather than data reading, which cannot realize the whole process of contactless write-read-erase data storage. Here, we present a pair of enantiomorphic diarylethene derivative ferroelectric crystals, showing a light-driven phase transition triggered by photoisomerization between the open and closed forms. Under the visible light, they exhibit a binary-domain state in the open form with white color and the band gap of 3.26 eV, while they show a single-domain state in the closed form with blue color and the band gap of 1.68 eV after UV irradiation of 254/365 nm. In addition to writing and erasing ferroelectric domains with light, we can also use light to read their color to determine the polarization state of domains. Moreover, diarylethene derivatives have better thermal stability, higher photoexcited conversion efficiency, and larger changes of the absorption wavelength between two isomers than those in salicylideneaniline derivatives. This work not only discovers the first diarylethene-based ferroelectric crystals but also successfully realizes completely contactless manipulation of write-read-erase data storage in the organic ferroelectric semiconductors.

Future-Oriented Advanced Diarylethene Photoswitches: From Molecular Design to Spontaneous Assembly Systems

Diarylethene (DAE) photoswitch is a new and promising family of photochromic molecules and has shown superior performance as a smart trigger in stimulus-responsive materials. During the past few decades, the DAE family has achieved a leap from simple molecules to functional molecules and developed toward validity as a universal switching building block. In recent years, the introduction of DAE into an assembly system has been an attractive strategy that enables the photochromic behavior of the building blocks to be manifested at the level of the entire system, beyond the DAE unit itself. This assembly-based strategy will bring many unexpected results that promote the design and manufacture of a new generation of advanced materials. Here, recent advances in the design and fabrication of diarylethene as a trigger in materials science, chemistry, and biomedicine are reviewed.

Unusual motion of the n-methoxypropyl moiety observed in the photochromic crystals of an organorhodium dithionite complex with n-methoxypropyltetramethylcyclopentadienyl ligands

The crystalline-state photochromism of a new organorhodium dinuclear complex having n-methoxypropyltetramethylcyclopentadienyl (η⁵-C₅Me₄n-C₃H₆OCH₃) and photoresponsive dithionite (μ-O₂SSO₂) ligands was investigated directly by performing single-crystal X-ray diffraction experiments; a reversible conformational change of the n-methoxypropyl moiety was intriguingly observed during the course of a thermal back-reaction.

Photoinduced topographical surface changes and photoresponse of the crystals of 7-methoxycoumarin

Photoinduced topographical changes, bending, and photosalient effect due to the dimerization reaction were observed on a single crystal of 7-methoxycoumarin, upon deep UV (254 nm) light irradiation.

Molecular motion in organometallic crystals: photoinduced 2π/5 rotation of n-hexyltetramethylcyclopentadienyl ligand

Unusual rotation of the ligand (blue dotted circle) in organometallic crystals is disclosed by X-ray diffraction experiments.