Self-Assembled Luminescent Quantum Dots To Generate Full-Color and White Circularly Polarized Light

The design and fabrication of quantum dots (QDs) with circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) has been a great challenge in developing chiroptical materials. We herein propose an alternative to the use of chiral capping reagents on QDs for the fabrication of CPL-active QDs that is based on the supramolecular self-assembly of achiral QDs with chiral gelators. Full-color-tunable CPL-active QDs were obtained by simple mixing or gelation of a chiral gelator and achiral 3-mercaptopropionic acid capped QDs. In addition, the handedness of the CPL can be controlled by the supramolecular chirality of the gels. Moreover, QDs with circularly polarized white light emission were fabricated for the first time by tuning the blending ratio of colorful QDs in the gel. The chirality transfer in the co-assembly of the achiral QDs with the gelator and the spacer effect of the capping reagents on the QD surface are also discussed. This work provides new insight into the design of functional chiroptical materials.