Dynamic modulation of circularly polarized luminescence in soft materials: From functions to applications

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials, owing to their numerous potential applications in various fields. Currently, the development of CPL-active materials falls into two main strategies: synthetic chemistry and supramolecular assembly. Among these, supramolecular assembly offers notable advantages, including flexible preparation approach, ease of tuning chiroptical properties, and remarkable stimuli-responsiveness. Soft materials are a type of stimuli-responsive supramolecular materials, as a subclass of stimuli-responsive supramolecular systems, are capable of responding to a range of external stimuli with excellent reversibility. Consequently, they are regarded as highly promising candidates for realizing stimuli-responsive CPL behavior. This review summarizes the present status and progress of CPL-active soft materials, with a particular focus on their responsiveness to external stimuli, offering insights from a materials perspective. We hope that this review can provide inspiration for designing CPL-active soft materials, deepen the research on CPL materials and promote their corresponding application in multidisciplinary fields.