Chiral functional materials as a platform for emerging technologies

The use of organic semiconductors as low-cost, lightweight, easy-to-process active layers in optoelectronic devices has attracted considerable research and technological interest for over thirty years. The functional properties of chiral organic semiconductors, including the absorption and emission of circularly polarised light or the transport of spin-polarised electrons, are highly anisotropic. As a result, the orientation of chiral molecules impacts the functionality and efficiency of chiral devices. We have developed a strategy to control the orientation of helicenes, prototypical chiral small molecules. Our approach forces the helicenes to adopt a face-on orientation and self-assemble into upright supramolecular columns oriented with their helical axis perpendicular to the substrate, or an edge-on orientation with parallel-lying supramolecular columns, which can independently switch on and switch off low- and high-energy chiroptical responses. Our templating methodologies provide a simple way to engineer orientational control and, by association, anisotropic functional properties of chiral molecular systems for a range of emerging technologies. In this talk I will speak about our efforts to control and characterise the orientation, order and supramolecular assembly of chiral small molecules and polymers, and the impact that has on the functional properties of chiral thin films and devices.