Highly efficient in crystallo energy transduction of light to work.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38684679.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-47881-6 and PMC identifier 11059232.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Various mechanical effects have been reported with molecular materials, yet organic crystals capable of multiple dynamic effects are rare, and at present, their performance is worse than some of the common actuators. Here, we report a confluence of different mechanical effects across three polymorphs of an organic crystal that can efficiently convert light into work. Upon photodimerization, acicular crystals of polymorph I display output work densities of about 0.06-3.94 kJ m<sup>-3</sup>, comparable to ceramic piezoelectric actuators. Prismatic crystals of the same form exhibit very high work densities of about 1.5-28.5 kJ m<sup>-3</sup>, values that are comparable to thermal actuators. Moreover, while crystals of polymorph II roll under the same conditions, crystals of polymorph III are not photochemically reactive; however, they are mechanically flexible. The results demonstrate that multiple and possibly combined mechanical effects can be anticipated even for a simple organic crystal.