Cellulose-based materials with circularly polarized luminescence: from fabrication strategies to emerging applications

Circularly polarized luminescence (CPL) materials have witnessed a booming development during the past years. Cellulose is a fascinating polymer derived from biomass, featuring multi-level chirality, biodegradability, and biocompatibility, providing an immensely powerful platform for constructing sustainable CPL materials. Herein, an up-to-date account of the latest advances in CPL materials constructed from nanocellulose and cellulose derivatives are systematically summarized, which are classified according to luminescent components, including organic luminophores, quantum dots, metal nanoclusters and lanthanide materials. Besides, various applications of such appealing materials, including anticounterfeiting and encryption, asymmetric polymerization, chiral sensing, along with biomedicine are outlined. Lastly, the current challenges along with future outlook of this emerging field are covered. The present work aims to inspire scientists to explore the potential of this natural-based material, thereby creating an expanding library of cutting-edge chiral luminescent systems. This review provides a comprehensive overview of cellulose-based circularly polarized luminescent (CPL) materials, focusing on their preparation and applications in anticounterfeiting, asymmetric polymerization, chiral sensing, and biomedicine. • The latest advances of cellulose-based CPL materials are reviewed. • Strategies for generating and modulating CPL from achiral luminescent materials combined with cellulose are examined. • The potential applications in anticounterfeiting and encryption, asymmetric polymerization, chiral sensing, and biomedicine are summarized. • Challenges and future prospects of cellulose-based CPL materials are discussed.