Temperature-Triggered Dielectric-Optical Duple Switch Based on an Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Phase Transition Crystal: [C₅N₂H₁₆]₂SbBr₅

Molecular optical-electrical duple switches (switch “ON” and “OFF” bistable states) represent a class of highly desirable intelligent materials because of their sensitive switchable physical and/or chemical responses, simple and environmentally friendly processing, light weights, and mechanical flexibility. In the current work, the phase transition of 1 (general formula R₂MX₅, [C₅N₂H₁₆]₂[SbBr₅]) can be triggered by the order–disorder transition of the organic cations at 278.3 K. The temperature-induced phase transition causes novel bistable optical-electrical duple characteristics, which indicates that 1 might be an excellent candidate for a potential switchable optical-electrical (fluorescence/dielectric) material. In the dielectric measurements, remarkable bistable dielectric responses were detected, accompanied by striking anisotropy along various crystallographic axes. For the intriguing fluorescence emission spectra, the intensity and position changed significantly with the occurrence of the structural phase transition. We believe that these findings might further promote the application of halogenoantimonates­(III) and halogenobismuthates­(III) in the field of optoelectronic multifunctional devices.