ENSL, CNRS, UCBL, Laboratoire de Chimie UMR 5182, 69364 Lyon, France.
Department of Chemistry, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Jun 7;119(23):e2202487119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2202487119. Epub 2022 Jun 2.
SignificanceNatural photochromic minerals have been reported by geologists for decades. However, the understanding of the photochromism mechanism has a key question still unanswered: What in their structure gives rise to the photochromism's reversibility? By combining experimental and computational methods specifically developed to investigate this photochromism, this work provides the answer to this fundamental question. The specific crystal structure of these minerals allows an unusual motion of the sodium atoms stabilizing the electronic states associated to the colored forms. With a complete understanding of the photochromism mechanism in hand, it is now possible to design new families of stable and tunable photochromic inorganic materials-based devices.
意义
几十年来，地质学家一直在报道天然光致变色矿物。然而，对于光致变色机制的理解有一个关键问题尚未得到解答：它们的结构中是什么导致了光致变色的可逆性？通过结合专门开发用于研究这种光致变色的实验和计算方法，这项工作为这个基本问题提供了答案。这些矿物的特殊晶体结构允许钠离子进行异常运动，从而稳定与有色形式相关的电子态。通过掌握光致变色机制的完整理解，现在有可能设计出新型稳定且可调谐的基于光致变色无机材料的器件。
