Hierarchical chiral amplification via grafting and co-assembly in flexible polymers for full-color circularly polarized luminescence

Abstract

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials are promising candidates for next-generation photonic technologies. However, their development has been hindered by complex design rules and limited generality. Here, we introduce an innovative polymer-based supramolecular co-assembly strategy using poly(styrene-alt-maleic anhydride) (SMA) copolymers functionalized with L- or D-phenylalanine (L(D)-Phe) to construct chiral helical architectures, followed by simply doping with non-chiral fluorescent materials. This cooperative design enables efficient induction of CPL across the visible spectrum, including white CPL with g_lum on the order of 10⁻³. Furthermore, the co-assembly with a HCl vapor-responsive fluorophore enables color modulation in CPL materials, which exhibit potential for application in information encryption. By establishing a streamlined and broadly applicable pathway to generate CPL-active systems, this work advances a generalizable chemical strategy for constructing functional chiroptical materials.