Circularly Polarized Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from Dye-Doped Cholesteric Liquid Crystalline Polymer Networks

J Phys Chem Lett. 2025 Jan 12:725-730. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.4c03479. Online ahead of print.

Abstract

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials have drawn increasing attention for their potential applications in optical displays and chemo/biosensing. Nevertheless, the construction of circularly polarized room-temperature phosphorescence (CPRTP) materials is still a significant challenge. In this work, four liquid crystalline polymer network films with RTP properties have been fabricated via photopolymerization of cholesteric liquid-crystalline mixtures containing different amounts of commercially available dyes. The films show a yellow-green structural color, enhanced RTP, blue CPL, and green CPRTP with phosphorescence dissymmetry factors up to -0.90, quantum yields up to 14.8%, and emission lifetimes up to 607 ms. Furthermore, the prepared film pattern presents different colors in reflective, fluorescent, and phosphorescent modes. This work not only provides a deep understanding of RTP and CPRTP, but also presents a facile strategy to fabricate film patterns for decoration and anticounterfeiting applications.