Professor Suseok Choi of POSTECH’s Department of Electrical Engineering has been named the September recipient of the 2026 Korea Science and Technology Award, presented by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF).

The Korea Science and Technology Award recognizes one researcher each month who has made significant contributions to the advancement of science and technology in Korea through outstanding and original research achievements over the past three years. Recipients receive a Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and ICT Commendation and a prize of KRW 10 million. Beginning in 2026, the Ministry of Science and ICT renamed the former “Scientist of the Month Award” as the “Korea Science and Technology Award” to enhance the prestige of the honor and establish it as a nationally recognized award.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the NRF selected Professor Choi as the September recipient in commemoration of September 1927, when the world’s first successful electronic transmission of images was achieved. Professor Choi was recognized for developing “Real Full Color” technology, which uses chiral nanostructures* to directly generate and tune colors and wavelengths across the entire visible spectrum, helping drive innovation in next-generation displays and optoelectronic technologies.

*Chiral nanostructures are structures that exhibit chirality at the nanoscale—a structural property in which two forms are mirror images of one another, like the left and right hands, but cannot be perfectly superimposed.

Current displays and image sensors primarily produce colors by combining red (R), green (G), and blue (B) light. However, RGB-based systems have limitations, including structural complexity and difficulty in directly reproducing or continuously tuning the wide range of colors and wavelengths found in nature.

Inspired by organisms such as butterflies and chameleons, which create diverse structural colors by naturally forming nanostructures without pigments, Professor Choi developed chiral nanostructures* that can directly generate and control desired colors and wavelengths by adjusting the rotational pitch of nanoscale molecules, without the need for complex nanofabrication processes.

*Chiral nanostructures form periodic optical structures through self-assembly, in which molecules spontaneously arrange themselves into helical structures.

Professor Choi also introduced stretchable optoelectronic device technology to develop a Photonic E-Skin that changes color depending on the direction and degree of stretching, similar to a chameleon. This advanced the technology beyond simple color-changing materials by enabling deformation to be directly detected and analyzed through changes in color.

In addition, he developed a low-voltage (2 V) tunable color filter that selectively produces desired colors by electrically controlling the periodicity of nanostructures, as well as a color-tunable laser capable of changing wavelengths across the visible spectrum.

*With its narrow linewidth of approximately 1 nm, the color-tunable laser can produce highly pure colors, offering advantages over OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) and QDs (quantum dots) not only for displays but also for next-generation optical technologies such as augmented reality (AR) and holography.

These research achievements have been published in international journals including Advanced Materials, Advanced Optical Materials, and Laser & Photonics Reviews, with related studies selected as cover articles in August 2023 and March 2026.

Before joining POSTECH, Professor Choi worked at LG Display for 19 years, where he gained firsthand experience with the process complexity, optical losses, and limitations in color purity associated with RGB color-mixing technologies.

Drawing on this industry experience, he has expanded his optoelectronics research at POSTECH into next-generation display technologies based on chiral nanostructures. To date, he has secured approximately 250 domestic and international patents. More recently, he has developed multi-pixel and multi-color control technologies utilizing the color, pattern, polarization, and deformation of light, while continuing to expand his research into image sensors, optical semiconductors, wearable electronic skin, and optical encryption.

“This research is particularly meaningful because we developed chiral nanostructures capable of generating and tuning colors and wavelengths across the entire visible spectrum, overcoming the limitations of conventional RGB color mixing,” Professor Choi said. “I will continue to pursue challenging research in a wide range of optoelectronic fields, including next-generation displays, optical semiconductors, AR, and holography.”

Center of Smart Display & Soft Electronics (CSS Lab) @ POSTECH