Wu Xiaocheng, Liu Junjie, Ni Fan, Jiang Longlong, Wei Shiyu, Wang Xiaohong, Qiu Longzhen
National Engineering Lab of Special Display Technology, State Key Lab of Advanced Display Technology, Academy of Opto-Electronic Technology, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, P. R. China.
Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Measuring Theory and Precision Instrument, Anhui Industrial Innovation Research Institute of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials and Systems, School of Instrument Science and Optoelectronic Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230009, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Sep 26;16(1):8474. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-63347-9.
The chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect is a state-of-art strategy for chiral detectability enhancement. For the first time, high-performance gas-phase chiral detectors based on the CISS effect were prepared using organic polymer, to address the challenges in accurately and portably detecting gas-phase chiral enantiomers in analytical chemistry. Here, a series of block copolymers poly(3-hexylthiophene)-block poly(phenyl isocyanate) (P3HT-PPI) were synthesized, combining a chiral helical structure and significantly improved electrical conductivity to regulate CISS effect by PPI ratio for precise, portable chiral recognition. P3HT-PPI demonstrates exceptional spin polarization up to 70.8%. The gas enantiomer detector based on P3HT-PPI exhibits excellent chiral distinguish capability of limonene enantiomers with current asymmetry factor up to 0.50, real-time detection, high reversibility, and linear concertation-dependence of response. An 'electronic dichroism' system based on the circuit combining chiral and achiral sensing elements, was developed for real-time visualization of limonene enantiomeric excess. Designing materials with CISS effect incorporating spin-polarized electrons in chiral enantiomer recognition and combing with conductive properties for converting chemical signals to electrical outputs, provides an effective strategy for the next-generation real-time, efficient detection of multiple chiral enantiomers.
