Issue 10, 2024

Designing dynamic coordination bonds in polar hybrid crystals for a high-temperature ferroelastic transition

Abstract

Ferroelastic materials have gained widespread attention as promising candidates for mechanical switches, shape memory, and information processing. Their phase-transition mechanisms usually originate from conventional order–disorder and/or displacive types, while those involving dynamic coordination bonds are still scarce. Herein, based on a strategic molecular design of organic cations, we report three new polar hybrid crystals with a generic formula of AA′RbBiCl6 (A = A′ = Me3SO+ for 1; A = Me3SO+ and A′ = Me4N+ for 2; A = A′ = Me3NNH2+ for 3). Their A-site cations link to the [RbBiCl6]n2n inorganic framework with lon topology through Rb–O/N coordination bonds, while their significantly different interactions between A′-site cations and inorganic frameworks provide distinct phase-transition behaviour. In detail, the strongly coordinative A′-site Me3SO+ cations prevent 1 from a structural phase transition, while coordinatively free A′-site Me4N+ cations trigger a conventional order–disorder ferroelastic transition at 247 K in 2, accompanied by a latent heat of 0.63 J g−1 and a usual “high → low” second-harmonic-generation (SHG) switch. Interestingly, the A′-site Me3NNH2+ cations in 3 reveal unusual dynamic coordination bonds, driving a high-temperature ferroelastic transition at 369 K with a large latent heat of 18.34 J g−1 and an unusual “low → high” SHG-switching behaviour. This work provides an effective molecular assembly strategy to establish dynamic coordination bonds in a new type of host–guest model and opens an avenue for designing advanced ferroelastic multifunctional materials.

Graphical abstract: Designing dynamic coordination bonds in polar hybrid crystals for a high-temperature ferroelastic transition

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
13 Dec 2023
Accepted
29 Jan 2024
First published
30 Jan 2024
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., 2024,15, 3661-3669

Designing dynamic coordination bonds in polar hybrid crystals for a high-temperature ferroelastic transition

Y. Li, X. Chen, W. Xu, Y. Gong, H. Ye, Z. Wang and W. Zhang, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 3661 DOI: 10.1039/D3SC06702E

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