Solvent-driven switchable photoluminescence for erasable information storage applications
image: This work develops a rapid solvent-driven luminescence switch based on a hybrid bimetallic halide of Sc(DMSO)6SbCl6, which provides a novel design strategy for developing fast-response, stimulus-responsive optical switches and opens the avenue for optical information storage applications.
Credit: Nano Research, Tsinghua University Press
The rapid development of big data and artificial intelligence technologies has created unprecedented demand for efficient, secure, and cost-effective data storage solutions. Among optical information storage technologies, there has been a lot of attention due to their low cost, high capacity, and long lifespan. However, its inherent irreversibility poses limitations with regard to repeatable and dynamic encryption. To achieve reversible information storage and encryption capabilities, the critical step is the exploitation of optical switching materials exhibiting stimulus-responsive behavior.
Organic-inorganic metal halides (OIMHs) showed great potential in fields of light-emitting diodes, photodetection, and scintillators due to their tunable structures and outstanding optical properties. The structural diversity induced by organic molecules endows OIMHs with richly tunable optical properties, making them suitable for new-generation optical information storage materials. Notably, the crystal structures in OIMHs often exhibit the properties of “soft lattices”. Specifically, the combination of organic and inorganic components tends to occur through weak interactions, such as hydrogen bonds or van der Waals forces. This results in high sensitivity to external chemical environments, such as temperature, humidity, and solvents. Based on this, it is advantageous to develop solvent-driven, high-contrast, reproducible stimulus-responsive optical switches by exploiting this sensitivity.
A team of material scientists led by Zhiguo Xia from South China University of Technology recently reported a bimetallic OIMH as Sc(DMSO)6SbCl6 (DMSO = Dimethyl sulfoxide) with rapid reaction at room temperature. Remarkably, Sc(DMSO)6SbCl6 exhibited extreme sensitivity to water, showing complete quenching within seconds upon contact with it. It is encouraging that the PL performance rapidly recovered under the wetted conditions of the DMSO solvent. Such excellent solvent sensitivity makes it beneficial for application in fast-response reversible optical information storage.
The team published their manuscript in Nano Research on March 17, 2026.
What sets this material apart lies in its extreme sensitivity to solvents, enabling rapid and reversible optical switching. "When exposed to water, the Sc-O weak interactions in the crystal structure will break, causing the material to quench its luminescence within seconds—switching to an 'off' state," explained Zhiguo Xia, corresponding author of the research paper, professor in the School of Physics and Optoelectronics at South China University of Technology. Prof. Dr. Xia is also the vice director of the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices at South China University of Technology. "Notably, immersing the non-emissive material in DMSO restores its crystalline structure and luminescence instantly, turning it back to the 'on' state. Such reversibility is achieved through repeated structural dissociation and recrystallization."
The team further validated the mechanism through structural and optical characterizations. In-situ powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) showed that water-induced amorphization quenches luminescence, while DMSO drives full recrystallization. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman analysis further confirmed changes in the coordination environment of Sc during the switching process.
To demonstrate practical application, the researchers designed a 4×8 dot matrix based on Sc(DMSO)6SbCl6, using luminescence presence ("1") and absence ("0") as a binary code. By treating specific dots with water or DMSO, they successfully wrote, erased, and rewrote information that decoded "SCUT" and "1918" via ASCII encoding. This proof-of-concept highlights the material’s potential for dynamic, repeatable information storage.
Other contributors include Chenliang Li, Yongsheng Sun, and Liang Li from the School of Physics and Optoelectronics at South China University of Technology.
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22361132525).
DOI Link:
https://doi.org/10.26599/NR.2026.94908392
About Nano Research
Nano Research is a peer-reviewed, open access, international and interdisciplinary research journal, sponsored by Tsinghua University and the Chinese Chemical Society, published by Tsinghua University Press on the platform SciOpen. It publishes original high-quality research and significant review articles on all aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, ranging from basic aspects of the science of nanoscale materials to practical applications of such materials. After 18 years of development, it has become one of the most influential academic journals in the nano field. Nano Research has published more than 1,000 papers every year from 2022, with its cumulative count surpassing 8,000 articles. In 2025 InCites Journal Citation Reports, its 2025 IF is 9.4 (8.3, 5 years), and it continues to be the Q1 area among the four subject classifications. Nano Research Award, established by Nano Research together with TUP and Springer Nature in 2013, and Nano Research Young Innovators (NR45) Awards, established by Nano Research in 2018, have become international academic awards with global influence.