A research team from the College of Design and Engineering at the National University of Singapore has successfully developed a supramolecular co-assembly platform capable of preparing chiral soft materials with full-color circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) properties. The breakthrough research, published in Science on August 14, 2025, overcomes the long-standing technical bottleneck in achieving efficient red-light CPL materials.

Professor Lim Zhi-Qun, leader of the research team, stated: “These materials exhibit the strongest chiral optical properties reported to date, with stability exceeding 100 days and the ability to withstand multiple thermal cycles.” By co-assembling non-chiral star-shaped block copolymers with R/S-lactic acid, the team successfully constructed micron-scale chiral fiber structures. This hierarchical assembly enables effective transfer of chirality from small molecules to macroscopic optical properties.

Experiments show that the material displays chiral luminescence across the red, green, and blue wavelength bands, with a significant increase in quantum yield for red-light emission. Professor Lim noted: “Strong CPL emission across the visible spectrum opens new possibilities for photonic device development.” By adjusting parameters such as solvent concentration, the researchers also achieved controllable inversion of the material’s optical rotation direction.

The material combines mechanical strength and optical stability, with hardness twice that of conventional materials. The team has successfully integrated various luminescent dyes into the polymer framework, confirming its application potential in 3D displays, quantum optics, and other fields. The researchers are currently exploring the incorporation of new functionalities such as conductivity and photoresponsiveness into this material system.