Piezoelectricity-Induced Mechanical Bond Formation in Solid-state Using Mechanochemistry
14 affiliations
- 1Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois, 60208
- 2Theoretical Sciences Unit, and School of Advanced Materials and International Centre for Materials Science
- 3Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR
- 4School of Chemistry
- 5University of New South Wales
- 6Department of Chemistry
- 7University of Wyoming
- 8Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Oklahoma, 101 Stephenson Parkway, Norman, Oklahoma, 73019
- 9Department of Chemistry, Dartmouth College, 6128 Burke Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755
- 10Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
- 11Department of Chemistry, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR, China, 999077
- 12Stoddart Institute of Molecular Science, Department of Chemistry
- 13Zhejiang University
- 14ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center
Abstract
Mechanochemistry, long promoted as a sustainable route to chemical synthesis, remains difficult to apply predictably to complex reactions due to a limited atomic-level understanding of how mechanical energy drives reactivity. Here, we demonstrated how piezoelectric polarization in tetragonal BaTiO3 directs solid-state mechanoredox chemistry, enabling electrode-free, reductant-free and solvent-free synthesis, for forming complex mechanically interlocked molecules for the first time. During ball milling, mechanically activated tetragonal BaTiO3 nanoparticles generate spatially separated redox sites that reduce viologen building blocks, promoting radical-pairing-driven pseudorotaxane formation and subsequent formation of stable [2] rotaxanes. First-principles calculations on BaTiO3 identify shear deformation as the dominant mechanical stimulus, where strain-induced polarization field produces an energetically favorable surface potential for the coupled redox reactions. These findings for the first time establish a direct mechanistic link between mechanical deformation, piezoelectric polarization, and mechanical bond formation, providing a predictive framework for sustainably constructing complex mechanically interlocked molecular architectures through piezoelectricity-mediated mechanochemistry.
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BibTeX
@misc{bhunia2026piezoelectricityinduced,
title = {{Piezoelectricity-Induced Mechanical Bond Formation in Solid-state Using Mechanochemistry}},
author = {Surojit Bhunia and Pramita Kundu and Long Zhang and Sudipto Sinha and Partha J Das and Guangcheng Wu and Christopher K Lee and James SW Seale and Hongliang Chen and Xuesong Li and Zhenwei Wu and Dong Jun Kim and Yuanning Feng and Ivan Aprahamian and Umesh V. Waghmare and C Malla Reddy and J. Fraser Stoddart},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009746/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009746/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Piezoelectricity-Induced Mechanical Bond Formation in Solid-state Using Mechanochemistry
AU - Surojit Bhunia
AU - Pramita Kundu
AU - Long Zhang
AU - Sudipto Sinha
AU - Partha J Das
AU - Guangcheng Wu
AU - Christopher K Lee
AU - James SW Seale
AU - Hongliang Chen
AU - Xuesong Li
AU - Zhenwei Wu
AU - Dong Jun Kim
AU - Yuanning Feng
AU - Ivan Aprahamian
AU - Umesh V. Waghmare
AU - C Malla Reddy
AU - J. Fraser Stoddart
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009746/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009746/v1
AB - Mechanochemistry, long promoted as a sustainable route to chemical synthesis, remains difficult to apply predictably to complex reactions due to a limited atomic-level understanding of how mechanical energy drives reactivity. Here, we demonstrated how piezoelectric polarization in tetragonal BaTiO3 directs solid-state mechanoredox chemistry, enabling electrode-free, reductant-free and solvent-free synthesis, for forming complex mechanically interlocked molecules for the first time. During ball milling, mechanically activated tetragonal BaTiO3 nanoparticles generate spatially separated redox sites that reduce viologen building blocks, promoting radical-pairing-driven pseudorotaxane formation and subsequent formation of stable [2] rotaxanes. First-principles calculations on BaTiO3 identify shear deformation as the dominant mechanical stimulus, where strain-induced polarization field produces an energetically favorable surface potential for the coupled redox reactions. These findings for the first time establish a direct mechanistic link between mechanical deformation, piezoelectric polarization, and mechanical bond formation, providing a predictive framework for sustainably constructing complex mechanically interlocked molecular architectures through piezoelectricity-mediated mechanochemistry.
ER -