Maximized Full-Color Circularly Polarized Luminescence from Metal Clusters.

Zhang, Chong; Wu, Bai-Yu; Li, Run-Meng; Zhang, Miao-Miao; Zhang, Zhi-Min; Feng, Le-Yao; Qin, Yan; Han, Zhen et al. · Adv Mater · 2026

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Colorful circularly polarized luminescence materials with large luminescence dissymmetry factors (g<sub>lum</sub>) and high photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQYs) are desired for 3D display, asymmetric synthesis, and encryption. However, realizing such materials based on metal clusters faces significant hurdles. Here, we disclose full-color CPL (visible light to near-infrared) with the maximum g<sub>lum</sub> factor up to -1.68 from atomically precise metal clusters in bilayer architectures, composed of soft helix chiral liquid crystals (CLCs) layers and metal cluster layers. This g<sub>lum</sub> factor is the highest value reported among all metal cluster-based materials. In the bilayer architecture device, the luminescence efficiency and stability of the metal clusters are significantly enhanced by their integration into the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) in the bilayer device, all while perfectly maintaining the optical properties of CLCs. Then, we further demonstrated the application of the metal cluster's excellent full-color CPL in photoinduced enantioselective polymerization, realizing a chiral transfer from light to matter. This work contributes to the design and synthesis of highly efficient full-spectrum chiroptical metal cluster materials, as well as the expansion of the application of photoinduced enantioselective polymerization technologies.