Circularly polarized room-temperature phosphorescence in microcrystals via aggregation-induced chirality transfer

Abstract

Circularly polarized room-temperature phosphorescence (CPRTP) materials integrating room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) and circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) show great promise for frontier applications like optoelectronics. Herein, we report a chiral luminophore Ben-2Chol, which can self-assemble into micrometer-scale sheets in the aggregated state of solution and spin-coated films and achieve circularly polarized fluorescence (CPF) through aggregation-induced chirality transfer, with the maximum g_lum reaching −1.1 × 10⁻³. Notably, its liquid-phase-diffused fibrous microcrystals exhibit CPRTP with inverted polarization relative to the sheets, featuring g_lum values of +6.0 × 10⁻³ (blue) and +1.0 × 10⁻³ (yellow-green) with a 41.7 ms of luminescence lifetime. Mechanical grinding eliminates RTP/CPL, confirming crystallization-induced properties. This study provides a simple strategy for constructing CPRTP materials through aggregation-induced chirality transfer in microcrystals, offering new insights for the design of chiral luminescent materials with dual functionalities.