Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) is well-studied in molecular systems but has been rarely reported in pure inorganic nanoscale crystals. Herein, we develop a family of pure inorganic rare-earth nanowires with robust and color-tunable CPL emissions. The chiral rare earth nanowires possess intrinsic atomic chirality with controlled handedness that is guided by the enantiomers with molecular chirality in the synthesis. By varying luminescent ions incorporated in the crystal lattice, color-tunable CPL can be achieved and is thermally robust, preserving emission over 300 °C, distinct from existing CPL-active materials. Moreover, as a proof of concept, we demonstrate that the synthesized nanostructures can be easily dispersed in a polymer matrix to enable transparent and flexible CPL films. This study opens up a promising avenue to design robust and tunable CPL materials helpful to the understanding of inorganic chiral information and capable of further applications in novel optoelectronic devices.
Keywords: atomic chirality; circularly polarized luminescence; color-tunable; flexible films; inorganic crystalline nanostructures.