Recent advances in organic–inorganic hybrid materials for optical waveguides and regulation

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials (OIHMs) exhibit immense potential in optical and optoelectronic fields due to their tunable building units, high structural tolerance, and facile fabrication process. Their predictable assembly structures, combined with excellent crystallinity and processability, have garnered significant attention for use in optical waveguides. Furthermore, the diverse stacking modes and the stimuli-responsive properties of inorganic and organic units can impart higher information density and enhanced security degree in information transmission for optical waveguide materials. However, to date, challenges remain for a deep understanding of the design principles and structure-property relationships of OIHMs with smart-responsive optical waveguides. In this review, we begin by discussing the design principles for active optical waveguides of OIHMs, including the luminescence mechanisms of both inorganic and organic components, together with the design strategies for low optical loss in OIHMs. Subsequently, based on their distinct self-assembly modes, we systematically introduce several high-performance optical waveguide OIHMs, including metal-organic complexes, metal-organic frameworks, metal-organic halides, metal nanoclusters, and hybrid glasses. Finally, we present an overview of their applications in photonic communication, optical logic gates, optical regulation and optical wavelength converters.