Broad Chiroptical Activity from Ultraviolet to Short-Wave Infrared by Chirality Transfer from Molecular to Micrometer Scale

Abstract

Chiral nanomaterials provide a rich platform for versatile applications. Tuning the wavelength of polarization rotation maxima in the broad range including short-wave infrared (SWIR) is a promising candidate for infrared neural stimulation, imaging, and nanothermometry. However, the majority of previously developed chiral nanomaterials reveal the optical activity in a relatively shorter wavelength range (ultraviolet-visible, UV-vis), not in SWIR. Here, we demonstrate a versatile method to synthesize chiral copper sulfides using cysteine, as the stabilizer, and transferring the chirality from molecular- to the microscale through self-assembly. The assembled structures show broad chiroptical activity in the UV-vis-NIR-SWIR region (200-2500 nm). Importantly, we can tune the chiroptical activity by simply changing the reaction conditions. This approach can be extended to materials platforms for developing next-generation optical devices, metamaterials, telecommunications, and asymmetric catalysts.