Rational control of spin-crossover particle sizes: From nano-to micro-rods of [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4)

Abstract

The spin-crossover (SCO) materials based on iron (II) and triazole ligands can change their spin state under an external perturbation such as temperature, pressure or light irradiation, exhibiting notably large hysteresis in their physical properties’ transitions. If these aspects are investigated for decades, it is only in the recent years that the design of SCO particles has attracted the attention of the scientific community with increasing interest focusing on the possibility of getting wide ranges of sizes and shapes of nanoparticles. In this context, we rationalized the reverse-micellar synthesis, thanks to the scrutiny of the experimental parameters, to produce SCO particles with controlled size and shape. This approach has been performed for the reference one-dimensional (1D) polymeric spin-crossover compound of formula [Fe(Htrz)2(trz)](BF4). A synergetic effect of both time and temperature is revealed as being of paramount importance to control the final particle size. Consequently, under well-defined experimental conditions, we can now offer rod-shaped SCO particles with lengths ranging from 75 to 1000 nm.