Molecular actuators driven by cooperative spin-state switching

Helena Shepherd (1) , Il’ya A Gural'Skiy , Carlos M. Quintero (2) , Simon Tricard (3) , Lionel Salmon (3) , Gábor Molnár (3) , Azzedine Bousseksou (3)

1 School of Physical Sciences, University of Kent
2 LAAS-NBS - Équipe NanoBioSystèmes
3 LCC - Laboratoire de chimie de coordination

Molecular switches have great potential to convert different forms of energy into mechanical motion; however, their use is often limited by the narrow range of operating conditions. Here we report on the development of bilayer actuator devices using molecular spin crossover materials. Motion of the bilayer cantilever architecture results from the huge spontaneous strain accompanying the spin-state switching. The advantages of using spin crossover complexes here are substantial. The operating conditions used to switch the device can be manipulated through chemical modification, and there are many existing compounds to choose from. Spin crossover materials may be switched by diverse stimuli including light, temperature, pressure, guest molecules and magnetic field, allowing complex input combinations or highly specific operation. We demonstrate the versatility of this approach by fabricating actuators from four different spin crossover materials and by using both thermal variation and light to induce motion in a controlled direction.

Domaines: Chimie de coordination; Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]; Chimie analytique; Catalyse; Matériaux; Polymères; Chimie-Physique [physics.chem-ph]

Helena Shepherd, Il’ya A Gural'Skiy, Carlos M. Quintero, Simon Tricard, Lionel Salmon, et al.. Molecular actuators driven by cooperative spin-state switching. Nature Communications, 2013, 4 (1), ⟨10.1038/ncomms3607⟩. ⟨hal-02403440⟩