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An electrochemical color-switchable RGB dye: tristable [2]catenane
Wei-Qiao Deng1, Amar H Flood, J Fraser Stoddart
1Materials and Process Simulation Center, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
Abstract:
We propose a design for an electrochemically driven RGB dye based on a tristable [2]catenane, in which the color of the molecule can be switched between Red, Green, and Blue by merely changing voltage. Based on DFT calculations, we conclude that the tristable [2]catenane should consist of a CBPQT4+ ring interlocked with a polyether macrocyle containing DNP (red), TTF (green), and FBZD (blue) units as the tunable RGB color-generating donors. Thus, at controllable voltages 0, V1, and V2, the [2]catenane is expected to display green, blue, and red colors, respectively. The advent of these RGB tristable molecules may have potential applications in low cost paperlike electronic displays.
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