Paving the Way to the First Functional Fulgide@MOF Hybrid Materials

The demand for new materials for data storage devices has increased significantly in recent years. In particular, photoswitchable systems will have an essential impact on the construction of new memory devices. In this respect, thermally stable materials are desired to be implemented as device components. Here, hybrid systems consisting of a porous host and a photochromic molecule form the foundation for such composites. In this work, we present the first hybrid materials consisting of the photoswitchable fulgide Aberchrome 670 and porous metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) of varying polarity exhibiting P-type photochromism upon light irradiation. From a fundamental point of view, this MOF embedment further enabled to trace the IR signatures of both the initial and irradiated state of Aberchrome 670 under ambient conditions, which are in correspondence with the results obtained via quantum-chemical calculations. It is precisely in these points that the interface between basic and applied research demonstrates the importance of the switch@MOF research field.