The Ministry of Science and ICT (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Bae Kyung-hoon) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (President Hong Won-hwa) announced on the 2nd that Professor Choi Su-seok of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) has been selected as the September winner of the Korea Science and Technology Award. Professor Choi was recognized for developing a ‘real full color’ technology that directly creates and alters colors and wavelengths across the entire visible spectrum using chiral nanostructures, thereby driving innovation in next-generation display and optoelectronic technologies.
 [코리안투데이] Professor Choi Su-seok of POSTECH, September winner of the Korea Science and Technology Award © 장형임 기자 |
The Korea Science and Technology Award honors one researcher each month who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of science and technology through original research over the past three years, presenting the awardee with the Deputy Prime Minister’s Prize and a cash prize of 10 million won. To strengthen the prestige of recognizing outstanding scientists, the Ministry of Science and ICT has, since 2026, elevated the former title ‘Scientist of the Month Award’ to the ‘Korea Science and Technology Award.’
The Ministry and the Foundation explained that Professor Choi was chosen as this month’s winner in commemoration of September, the month in which the world’s first successful electronic transmission of an image was achieved (Philo Farnsworth, September 7, 1927).
Displays and image sensors currently render color using the RGB method, which combines red (R), green (G), and blue (B). However, this approach has a complex structure and faces limitations in directly reproducing the diverse colors and wavelengths of nature or in changing them continuously.
Professor Choi drew inspiration from butterflies and chameleons, which form nanostructures on their own to produce various structural colors without any pigment. Without complex nanofabrication processes, he created chiral nanostructures that form periodic optical structures through self-assembly, in which molecules spontaneously arrange themselves in a helical pattern, and implemented a technology that directly generates and controls the desired color and wavelength by adjusting the rotational period of the helix. Chirality refers to a structural property in which an object, like the left and right hands, is a mirror image of itself yet cannot be perfectly superimposed.
This technology has branched out in several directions. By introducing stretchable optoelectronic device technology, Professor Choi realized a photonic e-skin whose color changes according to the direction and degree of stretching. He advanced it beyond a simple color-changing material into a technology that can directly read and analyze deformation as color. He also developed a low-voltage (2V) tunable color filter that electrically adjusts the period of the nanostructure to selectively produce a desired color, as well as a color-tunable laser capable of shifting colors across the visible spectrum. This laser can produce high and pure color even with a narrow linewidth of about 1nm, giving it an advantage over OLED (organic light-emitting diode) or QD (quantum dot) not only in displays but also in next-generation optical technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and holograms.
These achievements were selected as cover papers in international journals including Advanced Materials, Advanced Optical Materials, and Laser & Photonics Reviews in August 2023 and March 2026, respectively.
Professor Choi’s research is rooted in his experience on the industrial front line. During his 19 years at LG Display, he directly experienced the process complexity, optical loss, and color-purity limitations of the RGB color-mixing method, and after joining POSTECH in 2019 he broadened his research to next-generation displays based on chiral nanostructures, drawing on this insight. To date he has secured more than 250 patents at home and abroad, and he has recently been expanding his research scope into image sensors, optical semiconductors, wearable electronic skin, and optical encryption, including the development of multi-pixel, multi-color control technologies that harness the color, pattern, polarization, and deformation of light.
Professor Choi shared his thoughts, saying, ‘This research holds deep significance in that it developed a chiral nanostructure capable of generating and converting colors and wavelengths across the entire visible spectrum, overcoming the limitations of conventional RGB color mixing,’ adding, ‘Going forward, I will continue to pursue challenging research across a range of optoelectronic fields such as next-generation displays, optical semiconductors, AR, and holograms.’
Displays are a flagship industry in which Korea holds world-class competitiveness. This technology, which directly controls light and color at the nanostructure level, is expected to provide a springboard for a fresh leap in a display industry that has entered its mature phase, and to serve as a source technology for securing a decisive competitive edge in emerging industries such as optical semiconductors. The Ministry of Science and ICT stated that it plans to foster a research ecosystem in which scientists can devote themselves to source-technology research that will transform human life, and to strengthen the rewards and recognition given to researchers who achieve outstanding results.
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