Enantiomeric Switching of the Circularly Polarized Luminescence Processes in a Hierarchical Biomimetic System by Film Tilting

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) switching has attracted great attention due to the potential applications in chiral photonics and electronics. However, the lack of examples to achieve switchable CPL within a single material in the dry solid state hampers the scope of applications. Herein, we demonstrate a crystalline chiral polymer film as a polarizing medium consisting of radially assembled twisted crystallites, where achiral aggregation-induced emissive luminogens (AIEgens) are confined between the twisted crystalline stacks, eventually yielding handedness-switchable CPL by simple film tilting. Hierarchically organized twisted crystallites create the selective reflection activity of the polarizing medium. Upon film tilting, enantiomeric switching is realized by selectively collecting transmitted and reflected CPL components. The confined AIEgens in the crystalline polarizing system show a great enhancement of the luminescence efficiency. Moreover, the approach is general with broadband activity, and various AIEgens could be applied to generate fullcolor-tunable CPL. Additionally, the rigid and continuous nature of this polarizing system affords enhanced optical stability and facile modulation, developing a general route for designing chiroptical materials.

Automated summary

The research team demonstrated a crystalline chiral polymer film as a polarizing medium, using radially assembled twisted crystallites and confined AIEgens to achieve switchable CPL. This new material shows great optical performance and potential for a wide range of applications.