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<p>Light-driven rotary molecular motors harness the energy of light for a range of applications. While classical motors depend on both light and heat, a recently developed photon-only motor completes its rotation cycle at room temperature. Despite this breakthrough, the motor is hindered by a lack of rotational directionality, low photoisomerisation quantum efficiency, and inconsistent photoisomerisation rates of its two rotary half-cycles. In this study, we use quantum-classical trajectories to show that a synthetically accessible single-atom modification can resolve these issues by restoring unidirectionality, boosting efficiency, and balancing the two&#xa0;photoisomerisation rates in low-polarity environments. These improvements are driven by specific intramolecular electrostatic interactions that modulate the rotary dynamics and the time spent in the excited state&#xa0;as well as by a previously undocumented trapping and dephasing mechanism near the decay region that enhances and equalises photoisomerisation&#xa0;efficiency. These findings provide a new framework for designing high-performance photon-only molecular motors.</p>

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Rotor-stator repulsion and medium-induced dephasing enhance and equalise the quantum efficiency of a fluorinated photon-only rotary motor

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月4日

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  • Michael Filatov Gulak,
  • Meseret Simachew Bezabih,
  • Sabrina M. E. Cabral,
  • Marco Paolino,
  • Massimo Olivucci,
  • Seung Kyu Min

摘要

Light-driven rotary molecular motors harness the energy of light for a range of applications. While classical motors depend on both light and heat, a recently developed photon-only motor completes its rotation cycle at room temperature. Despite this breakthrough, the motor is hindered by a lack of rotational directionality, low photoisomerisation quantum efficiency, and inconsistent photoisomerisation rates of its two rotary half-cycles. In this study, we use quantum-classical trajectories to show that a synthetically accessible single-atom modification can resolve these issues by restoring unidirectionality, boosting efficiency, and balancing the two photoisomerisation rates in low-polarity environments. These improvements are driven by specific intramolecular electrostatic interactions that modulate the rotary dynamics and the time spent in the excited state as well as by a previously undocumented trapping and dephasing mechanism near the decay region that enhances and equalises photoisomerisation efficiency. These findings provide a new framework for designing high-performance photon-only molecular motors.