Self-Waveguide Single-Benzene Organic Crystal with Ultralow-Temperature Elasticity as a Potential Flexible Material

With the increasing popularity and burgeoning progress of space technology, the development of ultralow-temperature flexible functional materials is a great challenge. Herein, we report a highly emissive organic crystal combining ultralow-temperature elasticity and self-waveguide properties (when a crystal is excited, it emits light from itself, which travels through the crystal to the other end) based on a simple single-benzene emitter. This crystal displayed excellent elastic bending ability in liquid nitrogen (LN). Preliminary experiments on optical waveguiding in the bent crystal demonstrated that the light generated by the crystal itself could be confined and propagated within the crystal body between 170 and -196 °C. These results not only suggest a guideline for designing functional organic crystals with ultralow-temperature elasticity but also expand the application region of flexible materials to extreme environments, such as space technology.