When quantum dots meet blue phase liquid crystal elastomers: visualized full-color and mechanically-switchable circularly polarized luminescence

Polymer-based circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials have garnered considerable attention due to their advantages. However, precise CPL tuning remains challenging. This work achieves visualized full-color CPL by doping red, green, and blue quantum dots (QDs) into reconfigurable blue phase liquid crystal elastomers (BPLCES). The BPLCES's chiral 3D cubic superstructure induces an opposite CPL signal compared to cholesteric liquid crystal elastomers (CLCEs), independent of photonic bandgaps (PBGs). Mechanical stretching reversibly switches the CPL signals, further fixable using dynamic disulfide bonds. Applications in anti-counterfeiting and information encryption demonstrate the potential of BPLCEs-based CPL active materials.

Shan Li, Yuqi Tang, Qingyan Fan, Ziyuan Li, Xinfang Zhang, Jingxia Wang, Jinbao Guo, Quan Li