Optically active quantum dots with induced circularly polarized luminescence in amphiphilic peptide dendron hydrogel

Chengxi Li; Xue Jin; Tonghan Zhao; Jin Zhou; Pengfei Duan

doi:10.1039/c8na00216a

Optically active quantum dots with induced circularly polarized luminescence in amphiphilic peptide dendron hydrogel

Nanoscale Adv. 2018 Oct 26;1(2):508-512. doi: 10.1039/c8na00216a. eCollection 2019 Feb 12.

Authors

Chengxi Li^{1

2

3}, Xue Jin¹, Tonghan Zhao^{1

2}, Jin Zhou¹, Pengfei Duan^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Division of Nanophotonics, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) No. 11 ZhongGuanCun BeiYiTiao Beijing 100190 P. R. China duanpf@nanoctr.cn +86-10-82545510.
² School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100049 P. R. China.
³ College of Chemistry, Key Lab of Environment-Friendly Chemistry and Application of the Ministry of Education, Xiangtan University Xiangtan 411105 P. R. China.

Abstract

In this study, water-soluble semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) showing induced circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) in an organic-inorganic coassembled hydrogel were demonstrated. Achiral QDs could be encapsulated into a chiral peptide dendron hydrogel through cogelation. These cogels displayed intense induced circularly polarized emission. In addition, the direction of the CPL property of QD cogels could be regulated by the supramolecular chirality of hydrogels. Our findings reveal that the emergence of CPL achiral QDs can be triggered by the chirality transfer in a multiple-component dendron hydrogel system. This study has given a new understanding into the design of functional chiroptical materials.