Hydration as a trigger for new properties in inorganic materials

Abstract

The humble water molecule binds to metal ions strongly enough that it can have a significant distortive influence on the coordination geometry, yet weakly enough that it can be readily removed, thus providing scope for reversible chemical switching between structural forms. When this principle is applied in 3D coordination frameworks, the unique topological constraints of the framework can lead to new behaviours. Examples from our work will be presented, including anomalous mechanical properties enabled by unsaturated coordination spheres,[1] and new kinds of symmetry breaking transformations triggered by (de)hydration[2] (see figure).