Breaking the photoswitch speed limit

The forthcoming generation of materials, including artificial muscles, recyclable and healable systems, photochromic heterogeneous catalysts, or tailorable supercapacitors, relies on the fundamental concept of rapid switching between two or more discrete forms in the solid state. Herein, we report a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 7556
Main Authors:	Thaggard, Grace C., Park, Kyoung Chul, Lim, Jaewoong, Maldeni Kankanamalage, Buddhima K. P., Haimerl, Johanna, Wilson, Gina R., McBride, Margaret K., Forrester, Kelly L., Adelson, Esther R., Arnold, Virginia S., Wetthasinghe, Shehani T., Rassolov, Vitaly A., Smith, Mark D., Sosnin, Daniil, Aprahamian, Ivan, Karmakar, Manisha, Bag, Sayan Kumar, Thakur, Arunabha, Zhang, Minjie, Tang, Ben Zhong, Castaño, Jorge A., Chaur, Manuel N., Lerch, Michael M., Fischer, Roland A., Aizenberg, Joanna, Herges, Rainer, Lehn, Jean-Marie, Shustova, Natalia B.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	London Nature Publishing Group UK 20-11-2023 Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio
Subjects:	119/118 140/131 147/135 639/301/357/339 639/638/298/921 Artificial muscles Catalysts Confined spaces Humanities and Social Sciences multidisciplinary Muscles Photochromism Science Science (multidisciplinary) Solid state Speed limits Spiropyrans Switching
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Summary:	The forthcoming generation of materials, including artificial muscles, recyclable and healable systems, photochromic heterogeneous catalysts, or tailorable supercapacitors, relies on the fundamental concept of rapid switching between two or more discrete forms in the solid state. Herein, we report a breakthrough in the “speed limit” of photochromic molecules on the example of sterically-demanding spiropyran derivatives through their integration within solvent-free confined space, allowing for engineering of the photoresponsive moiety environment and tailoring their photoisomerization rates. The presented conceptual approach realized through construction of the spiropyran environment results in ~1000 times switching enhancement even in the solid state compared to its behavior in solution, setting a record in the field of photochromic compounds. Moreover, integration of two distinct photochromic moieties in the same framework provided access to a dynamic range of rates as well as complementary switching in the material’s optical profile, uncovering a previously inaccessible pathway for interstate rapid photoisomerization. Rapid switching between discrete states in the solid state is a cornerstone for the technological development of devices based on stimuli-responsive materials. Here authors break the speed limit of common classes of photochromic molecules through tailoring framework environments.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	2041-1723 2041-1723
DOI:	10.1038/s41467-023-43405-w