Chirality is the property of left-handed and right-handed objects in the 3D space. In Nature, chirality is known to play a major role in biological systems such as in proteins and polysaccharides. In chemistry and materials science, chiral molecular and supramolecular architectures may also provide added value, related to their inherent 3D structure and their chirality-related electronic and optical properties.
The principal research goal of HEL4CHIROLED is the preparation of chiral Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) and other related opto-electronic devices based on new small helical molecules, helical π-conjugated oligomers and helical lanthanide complexes.
In this project, we explore new approaches to increase the performances of opto-electronic devices:
– Using the emission of circularly polarized light (CPL) to improve the performance of displays based OLEDs, and to allow additional functionalities in stereoscopic displays.
– Manipulating the spin of electrons by using a chiral molecule, to improve spin effects (Chiral Induced Spin Selectivity, CISS).
For these purposes, a great diversity of helical molecules, covalent and supramolecular polymers, together with chiral lanthanide complexes need to be prepared, thoroughly studied, and implemented into devices.