Kilde Martin Drøhse, Arroyo Paloma Garcia, Gertsen Anders S, Mikkelsen Kurt V, Nielsen Mogens Brøndsted
Department of Chemistry, University of Copenhagen Universitetsparken 5 2100 Copenhagen Denmark
RSC Adv. 2018 Feb 8;8(12):6356-6364. doi: 10.1039/c7ra13762a. eCollection 2018 Feb 6.
Molecular solar thermal (MOST) systems that undergo photoisomerizations to long-lived, high-energy forms present one approach of addressing the challenge of solar energy storage. For this approach to mature, photochromic molecules which can absorb at the right wavelengths and which can store a sufficient amount of energy in a controlled time period have to be developed. Here we show in a combined experimental and theoretical study that incorporation of a pyridyl substituent onto the dihydroazulene/vinylheptafulvene photo-/thermoswitch results in molecules whose optical properties, energy-releasing back-reactions and energy densities can be controlled by protonation/deprotonation. The work thus presents a proof-of-concept for using acid/base to control the properties of MOST systems.
分子太阳能热（MOST）系统通过光异构化形成长寿命、高能形式，是应对太阳能存储挑战的一种方法。为使该方法成熟，必须开发出能在合适波长吸收且能在可控时间段内存储足够能量的光致变色分子。在此，我们通过实验和理论相结合的研究表明，在二氢薁/乙烯基七富烯光/热开关上引入吡啶基取代基，可得到光学性质、能量释放逆反应和能量密度能通过质子化/去质子化进行控制的分子。因此，这项工作为利用酸碱控制MOST系统的性质提供了概念验证。
