title: Photochromic bisthienylethene as multi-function switches.
abstract: Bisthienylethenes (BTEs) are one of the most promising families of photochromic compounds because of their fatigue resistance and thermally irreversible properties for use in optoelectronic devices such as ultrahigh-density optical data storage, molecular switches, logic gates, molecular wires, sensors, and so on. This article describes recent development of switchable photochromic bisthienylethene materials, especially multi-switchable bisthienylethene materials including multi-color photochromic materials, multi-switchable organogelators and liquid crystals. We also highlight our recent contributions in this field.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Institute of Fine Chemicals, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, P. R. China. tianhe@ecust.edu.cn
authors.forename: He
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Sheng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang