Cooperative light-induced breathing of soft porous crystals via azobenzene buckling.

ABSTRACT: Although light is a prominent stimulus for smart materials, the application of photoswitches as light-responsive triggers for phase transitions of porous materials remains poorly explored. Here we incorporate an azobenzene photoswitch in the backbone of a metal-organic framework producing light-induced structural contraction of the porous network in parallel to gas adsorption. Light-stimulation enables non-invasive spatiotemporal control over the mechanical properties of the framework, which ultimately leads to pore contraction and subsequent guest release via negative gas adsorption. The complex mechanism of light-gated breathing is established by a series of in situ diffraction and spectroscopic experiments, supported by quantum mechanical and molecular dynamic simulations. Unexpectedly,

SUBMITTER: Krause S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9005654 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature