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The Center for Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Semiconductors for Energy (CHOISE) has , in recognition of its creation of a new class of chiral semiconductors that unify the control of spin, charge, and light within a single electronically active material platform.

CHOISE is a Department of Energy-funded Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) bringing together 17 research groups from nine institutions: the National Laboratory of the Rockies (NLR), Duke University, the University of Colorado Boulder, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University, San Diego State University, the University of Toledo, the University of Utah, and the University of California Santa Cruz. The Center includes seven RASEI Fellows, and is led by Fellow Matt Beard of NLR.

RASEI Fellows Kirstin Alberi (NLR), Steve Barlow (CU Boulder), Joseph Berry (NLR), Jeff Blackburn (NLR), Joseph Luther (NLR), and Seth Marder (CU Boulder) are all part of the collaboration.Ìý

is awarded annually in recognition of significant recent discoveries and advances in physical chemistry. In selecting CHOISE, the prize committee highlighted both the scientific excellence and the collaborative character of the work, recognizing how the team has come together across disciplines and institutions to develop innovative ideas.

At the heart of CHOISE's prize-winning research is chirality, the property by which molecules exist in distinct left- and right-handed forms. By embedding chirality directly into a semiconductor, the team has demonstrated that molecular handedness can govern the behavior of charge carriers and their spin. This establishes a fundamentally new paradigm for spin-dependent optoelectronics: technologies that use both light and electrical signals to process and transmit information.

Optoelectronic devices already underpin much of modern life, from the fiber-optic networks that carry global internet traffic, to the sensors in medical imaging, and the LEDs and lasers in everyday electronics. However, the next generation of technologies, including applications such as quantum computing, ultra-secure communications, and energy-efficient data processing, will demand far greater control over the quantum properties of electrons, particularly their spin. Conventional semiconductors offer limited means to achieve this. This is where this work comes in. CHOISE's chiral semiconductor platform opens a new route to that control, using the inherent geometry of molecules rather than complex external hardware to influence the properties of the signal. This could ultimately lead to devices that are not only more powerful, but significantly more energy-efficient.