LAUSR

Stimulus-responsive materials that display circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) have attracted great attention for application in chiral sensors and smart displays. However, due to difficulties in the regulation of chiral structures, fine control of CPL remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate that cellulose nanocrystal shape-memory polymers (CNC-SMPs) with luminescent components enable mechanically responsive CPL. The chiral nematic organization of CNCs in the material gives rise to a photonic band gap. By manipulating the photonic band gap or luminescence wavelengths of luminescent CNC-SMPs, precise control of CPL emission with varied wavelengths and high dissymmetry factors (glum ) is achieved. Specifically, CPL emission can be switched reversibly by treating the luminescent CNC-SMPs with hot-pressing and recovery by heating. Pressure-responsive CPL with tunable glum values is ascribed to the pressure-responsive photonic bandgaps. Moreover, colorimetric and CPL active patterns are created by imprinting desired forms into SMP samples. This study demonstrates a novel way to fabricate smart CPL systems using biomaterials. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.