A N-Aromatic-Substituted Viologen-Based Coordination Polymer with Layered Assembly of Hydrogen-Bonded Networks Showing Exceptional Photochromic Behaviors

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.8b01614
• Publication Date: 2018-12-31T20:37:41Z
• Authors: Shuzhi Hu; Jie Zhang; Yining He; Zhenqiang Chen; Zhiyong Fu
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

An electron transfer molecular system has been developed for investigating the correlation between crystal structure and photochromic properties with the N-aromatic-substituted viologen ligand as the building unit. The designed photoactive material displays rapid photoswitching behavior with reversible color changes due to hydrogen-bonding assisted electron transfer and its porous structural motif. Interestingly, desorption of lattice water molecules from the structure increases the photoresponse speed which can be attributed to the fact that its stacking changes to a close packing mode verified by powder X-ray diffraction data resulting in short contacts between the donor and acceptor units.