Stress and light sensitive dual-mechanical property of acylhydrazone crystal

Abstract

Mechanically dual-responsive molecular crystals have gained substantial interest among researchers due to their significant applications in various fields. However, incorporation of disparate mechanical responses in the same crystalline material is still a challenging issue and is continuously being explored. Here, we report long acicular crystals derived from 4-bromobenzhydrazide and 9-anthraldehyde exhibit both stress-induced mechanical bending and blue-light induced photomechanical bending. Furthermore, the crystals show thermal back isomerization upon gradual heating. These two distinct mechanical responses in the crystalline phase have been studied and their structure–property correlation have been established.