Journal Article

Breaking the photoswitch speed limit

Karmakar, Manisha, Zhang, Minjie, Thaggard, Grace C., Sosnin, Daniil, Thakur, Arunabha, McBride, Margaret K., Shustova, Natalia B., Herges, Rainer, Rassolov, Vitaly A., Haimerl, Johanna, Lerch, Michael M., Aizenberg, Joanna, Tang, Ben Zhong, Forrester, Kelly L., Chaur, Manuel N., Wilson, Gina R., Castaño, Jorge A., Bag, Sayan Kumar, Smith, Mark D., Fischer, Roland A., Park, Kyoung Chul, Lim, Jaewoong, Maldeni Kankanamalage, Buddhima K. P., Arnold, Virginia S., Aprahamian, Ivan, Lehn, Jean-Marie, Adelson, Esther R., Wetthasinghe, Shehani T.

2023

Overview

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.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 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