Highly efficient full-color and white circularly polarized luminescent nanoassemblies and their performance in light emitting devices

Abstract

Chiral nanomaterials with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) have attracted increasing attention as they show improved luminous efficiency and high contrast images in optical displays. Herein, nanotwisted fibers with bright full-color CPL are developed through the co-assembly of chiral phenylalanine derived gelators and achiral aromatic molecules. The synergic effect of π–π stacking and hydrogen bonding interactions between the chiral and achiral building blocks results in long-range ordered self-assembly, enabling the chirality of the gelators to be better transmitted to the achiral aromatic molecules. Highly ordered co-assemblies lead to the formation of supramolecular gels with high g_lum values which range up to 10⁻³. Moreover, nanoassemblies with white CPL are obtained by tuning the ratio of colorful achiral aromatic molecules in the gels. These nanotwisted gels show diverse colors or even white circularly polarized light when coated on UV chips, which enable their future application in the construction of low-cost and flexible light-emitting devices such as circularly polarized organic light-emitting diodes (CPOLEDs).