The First Chiral Thermochromic Ferroelastic with Seven Physical Channel Switches

Switchable materials play an invaluable role in signal processing and encryption of smart devices. The development of multifunctional materials that exhibit switching characteristics in multiple physical channels has attracted widespread attention. Here, two chiral thermochromic ferroelastic crystals ( S -CTA) 2 CuCl 4 and ( R -CTA) 2 CuCl 4 (CTA = 3-Chloro-2-hydroxypropyltrimethylammonium) have been prepared with switchable properties in dielectricity, conductivity, second harmonic generation (SHG), piezoelectricity, ferroelasticity, chiral and thermochromic properties. Compared with traditional phase transition materials with switching feature, thermochromism brings additional spectral encryption possibilities for future information processing. To the best of our knowlege, this is the first case of chiral thermochromic ferroelastic that exhibit switching properties in seven physical channels. This work is expected to promote further exploration of multifunctional molecular switchable materials.