Full-Color Tunable Circularly Polarized Luminescent Nanoassemblies of Achiral AIEgens in Confined Chiral Nanotubes
- Journal:
- Advanced Materials
- Published:
- DOI:
- 10.1002/adma.201606503
- Affiliations:
- 5
- Authors:
- 5
Research Highlight
Lighting the way for optoelectronic devices
© Simone Brandt/Getty Images
Scientists have created structures that polarize light without limiting luminescence, which could lead to new devices for use in applications from sensors to optical data storage, according to a report published in Advanced Materials.
Materials that can emit circularly polarized luminescence (CPL), light in which the electric field rotates around a plane perpendicular to the direction that the light travels, are typically made by chemically synthesizing chiral building blocks — organic molecules that are geometrically asymmetric — a complex process that also limits the intensity of the luminescence.
By packing fluorescent dyes, called aggregation-induced emission luminogens (AIEgens), into chiral nanotube scaffolds, researchers from the Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin) in China used the chirality of the nanotubes to enhance the luminosity of the AIEgens.
The work could lead to new structures for use in sensors and encrypted transmission and data storage technologies.
References
- Advanced Materials 29, 1606503 (2017). doi: 10.1002/adma.201606503