Upconversion circularly polarized luminescence of cholesteric liquid crystal polymer networks with NaYF4:Yb,Tm UCNPs

Upconversion circularly polarized luminescence (UC-CPL) exhibits promising potential for application for anti-counterfeiting and displays. Upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), NaYF₄:Yb,Tm, with uniform morphology and high crystallinity, were prepared via a simple solvothermal method. These UCNPs were embedded into cholesteric liquid crystal polymer network (CLCN) films. The UC-CPL performance of these films was investigated using left- and right-handed circular polarizers. After calibration, the |gcallum| values (up to 0.33) were obtained for the free-standing CLCN-UCNPs films, while a |gcallum| value of 0.43 was achieved for the CLCN-UCNPs-coated PET film. Moreover, a combined system comprising a PMMA-UCNPs layer and a CLCN layer yielded an ultra-large |gcallum| value of up to 1.73. Flexible and colourful patterned CLCN films were fabricated using photomasks, offering potential applications in anti-counterfeiting. This study not only successfully prepared UC-CPL-active materials based on CLCNs and UCNPs, but also demonstrated the chiral filtering effect of CLCN films in upconversion luminescent materials.