Quantifiable stretching-induced fluorescence shifts of an elastically bendable and plastically twistable organic crystal

Organic crystals with mechanical stimulus-response properties are being developed increasingly nowadays. However, the studies involving tensile-responsive crystals are still lacking due to the strict requirement of crystals with good flexibility. In this work, an organic crystal with the ability of elastic bending and plastic twisting upon loading stress and shearing force, respectively, is reported. The deformability in different directions enables the crystal to be a model for tensile-responsive study. Indeed, blue shifts of fluorescence were observed when the tensile forces loaded upon the needle-shaped crystal were stretched to a certain degree. The mathematical correlation between emission wavelength changes and stretching strain was obtained for the first time, which proves that the crystal has a potential application for tension sensors. In addition, a low detection limit and high sensitivity enabled the crystal to have the ability to detect tension variations in precision instruments. Theoretical calculations and X-ray crystal structure analyses revealed the mechanism of emission wavelength shifts caused by molecular movement during the stretching process. The presented crystal successfully overcame the limitations of traditional mechanochromic organic crystals, which have difficulty in responding to tensile forces.