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

Krause S, Evans JD, Bon V, Crespi S, Danowski W, Browne WR, Ehrling S, Walenszus F, Wallacher D, Grimm N, Tobbens DM, Weiss MS, Kaskel S, Feringa BL (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Nature Communications Nature Publishing Group: Nature Communications

Book Volume: 13

Article Number: 1951

Journal Issue: 1

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29149-z

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, this study identifies a novel light-induced deformation mechanism of constrained azobenzene photoswitches relevant to the future design of light-responsive materials.

Involved external institutions

University of Groningen / Rijksuniversiteit Groningen NL Netherlands (NL) Technische Universität Dresden DE Germany (DE) Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie (HZB) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Krause, S., Evans, J.D., Bon, V., Crespi, S., Danowski, W., Browne, W.R.,... Feringa, B.L. (2022). Cooperative light-induced breathing of soft porous crystals via azobenzene buckling. Nature Communications, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29149-z

MLA:

Krause, Simon, et al. "Cooperative light-induced breathing of soft porous crystals via azobenzene buckling." Nature Communications 13.1 (2022).

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