Solvatochromic covalent organic frameworks

Laura Ascherl, Emrys W. Evans, Matthias Hennemann, Daniele Di Nuzzo, Alexander G. Hufnagel, Michael Beetz, Richard H. Friend, Timothy Clark, Thomas Bein () and Florian Auras ()
Additional contact information
Laura Ascherl: University of Munich (LMU)
Emrys W. Evans: University of Cambridge
Matthias Hennemann: Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Daniele Di Nuzzo: University of Cambridge
Alexander G. Hufnagel: University of Munich (LMU)
Michael Beetz: University of Munich (LMU)
Richard H. Friend: University of Cambridge
Timothy Clark: Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Thomas Bein: University of Munich (LMU)
Florian Auras: University of Cambridge

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of highly tuneable crystalline, porous materials. Here we report the first COFs that change their electronic structure reversibly depending on the surrounding atmosphere. These COFs can act as solid-state supramolecular solvatochromic sensors that show a strong colour change when exposed to humidity or solvent vapours, dependent on vapour concentration and solvent polarity. The excellent accessibility of the pores in vertically oriented films results in ultrafast response times below 200 ms, outperforming commercially available humidity sensors by more than an order of magnitude. Employing a solvatochromic COF film as a vapour-sensitive light filter, we demonstrate a fast humidity sensor with full reversibility and stability over at least 4000 cycles. Considering their immense chemical diversity and modular design, COFs with fine-tuned solvatochromic properties could broaden the range of possible applications for these materials in sensing and optoelectronics.

Date: 2018
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-06161-w Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:9:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-018-06161-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06161-w

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().