Photosalient effect and reversible photochromic photoluminescence driven by cascade [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction and water adsorption in a 0D hybrid metal halide

Abstract

The ionic structure of hybrid metal halides (HMHs) is conducive to the integration of the photoactivity of organic components and mechanical properties of inorganic components. Therefore, HMHs can function as a suitable platform to advance photomechanical performance due to their great structural designability and wide compositional diversity. Herein, a notable photosalient effect was observed in 0D ionic (LH)2InCl5 (1, L = 4-styrylpyridine). Upon irradiation with 450 nm light, 1 undergoes a rare single-crystal-to-single-crystal transformation to (L2H2)[In(H2O)Cl5] (1a), along with distinct photochromic photoluminescence and various photomechanical responses, driven by the cascade photoinduced [2 + 2] cycloaddition of LH+ and water sorption by coordinatively unsaturated In3+. A detailed mechanistic investigation unraveled the photosalient effect by initiation of the cycloaddition reaction and enhancement by water sorption, which resulted in a phase transformation that is more energetically and kinetically favorable through decreasing Gibbs free energy (1.51 eV) and a kinetical energy barrier (0.29 eV). Additionally, the partially reversible transformation between LH+ monomers and dimers endows 1a with excellent photoswitch performance due to the variation in the π electron-conjugated degree for LH+. At last, by integrating powdered 1 with polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), the 1–PMMA hybrid matrix membrane exhibited rapid and controllable responsive behaviors, including bending and curling, through controlling the direction of the concentration gradient. This work demonstrates that ionic HMHs might function as a promising platform for advanced photomechanical and photochromic materials.

Graphical abstract: Photosalient effect and reversible photochromic photoluminescence driven by cascade [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction and water adsorption in a 0D hybrid metal halide

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
08 May 2025
Accepted
21 Jun 2025
First published
23 Jun 2025
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2025, Advance Article

Photosalient effect and reversible photochromic photoluminescence driven by cascade [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction and water adsorption in a 0D hybrid metal halide

C. Chen, Z. Li, Y. Xiao, C. Ye, J. Wei, R. Zeng, Q. Pang and B. Luo, Chem. Sci., 2025, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D5SC03344F

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements