(SEMINAR at CeNT UW) Professor Wiktor Lewandowski, Faculty of Chemsitry, University of Warsaw

Faculty of Chemsitry, University of Warsaw

Thin films exhibiting chiroptical properties hold great potential for emerging photonic technologies relying on the emission or detection of circularly polarized light. However, further efforts are required to capitalize on their potential fully. Recently, we addressed the challenges of developing chiral nanomaterials by introducing a liquid crystal-assisted method for fabricating chiroptical thin films. The developed method relies on LCs forming morphologically chiral structures, such as helical nanofibers, to guide the assembly of organic materials and nanoparticles [1]. We have shown that this methodology is universal to Au nanoparticles (nanospheres, nanorods, nanostars, nano bipyramids, nanoocthedra, and many more), perovskite nanocrystals, laser dyes, and aggregation-induced emitters [2,3]. Notably, the formed assemblies exhibit high selectivity against circularly polarized light. This enables film chirality’s ‘naked eye’ visibility through a circular polarizer, making them feasible for anti-counterfeiting technologies [4].

[1] Baginski et al., Advanced Materials 32, 1904581 (2020)
[2] Grzelak et al., Adv. Funct. Mater., 32, 2111280 (2022)
[3] Parzyszek et al., ACS Nano, 16, 11, 18472–18482 (2022)
[4] Szustakiewczi et al., Adv. Mater., 36, 2310197 (2024)