Team Led by Professor Dong Ha Kim Published in Science for Development of Next-generation Supramolecular Optical Materia
- 작성처
- Date2025.08.18
- 7780
Team Led by Professor Dong Ha Kim Published in Science for Development of Next-generation Supramolecular Optical Materials Technology
Professor Dong Ha Kim from the Department of Chemistry & Nanoscience and his team have developed chiral supramolecular optical materials based on star-like block copolymers capable of high-efficiency circularly polarized light (CPL) across the entire visible spectrum. This innovation enables the stable implementation of red CPL and maintains long-term supramolecular chirality, marking a significant technological breakthrough. The findings were published in the renowned academic journal Science on August 14.
Circularly polarized luminescence is vital for next-generation optoelectronic applications like 3D displays, quantum optics, and spintronics. However, existing materials based on linear block copolymers have been limited by issues of instability and low efficiency. The research team designed hierarchical assemblies by hydrogen bonding achiral star-like block copolymers with chiral small molecules, forming helical microfibers during the thermal annealing process. This resulted in significantly stronger chiral optical properties and enhanced stability. These constructed assemblies maintained stability for over 100 days at room temperature and showed no performance degradation, even with repeated heating and cooling cycles.
The research also successfully incorporated various emitters to achieve full-color CPL encompassing the blue, green, and red regions, reaching record-high emission efficiency and lifespan. Notably, the emission efficiency reached the highest level compared to existing technologies. Moreover, the team managed to control the directionality of chiral optical properties by adjusting the concentration and solvent evaporation rate, a process elucidated using molecular dynamics simulations.
Professor Kim envisions this technology to be applicable in various fields such as spintronics, information encryption, and bio-imaging as a next-generation chiral optical material. The research received support from the Autonomous Priority Research Institute of the National Research Foundation of Korea, with Dr. Minju Kim (currently a postdoctoral researcher at the National University of Singapore) as the first author. Joint corresponding authors include Zhiqun Lin, Invited Chair Professor at the National University of Singapore; Professor Zhong-Yuan Lu at Jilin University, China; Professor Nicholas A. Kotov at the University of Michigan, USA; and Professor Zhenzhong Yang at Tsinghua University, China, demonstrating a successful case of international collaboration.