Photomechanical crystalline materials: new developments, property tuning and applications

Abstract

Photomechanical crystalline materials that exhibit mechanical motion under light irradiation are one of the fields of greatest interest to crystallographers. This highlight focuses on the progress in this field. In addition to typical systems, the discovery of new molecular systems and photomechanical mechanisms has been reviewed, which are exciting and help to solve the problems inherent in current systems. Particular emphasis is placed on the property tuning and enhancement of known molecular systems including polymorphs, cocrystals and complexes via different approaches. Meanwhile, the combination of various properties (flexibility, fluorescence, optical waveguide, etc.) shows us broad application prospects of photomechanical crystals. Finally, some insights into future developments are provided, including discovery of new molecular systems and mechanisms, structure–property relationships, and applications, which are expected to contribute to diversifying the research systems and realizing the utility of photomechanical crystals.