Study on the difference of photochromic and thermochromic mechanism of ethylenediamine trimolybdate

Ethylenediamine trimolybdate ((C2H10N2)[Mo3O10], denoted as ENTMo) shows unusual photochromic and thermochromic properties. The color of the white ENTMo compounds becomes reddish brown gradually under UV irradiation, and changes gradually to blue-black upon annealing. XRD patterns and FT-IR spectra verify that the crystal structure of the colored samples is almost unchanged except distortion. UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra (DRS) and ESR spectra of the photochromic and the thermochromic samples could confirm that there must exist difference between thermochromic and photochromic mechanism.