Silver nanoparticles trapped inside a polymer matrix permit for exact shade management in anti-counterfeiting know-how

In a big development within the area of anti-counterfeiting know-how, Professor Jiseok Lee and his analysis staff within the College of Vitality and Chemical Engineering at UNIST have developed a brand new hidden anti-counterfeiting know-how, harnessing the distinctive properties of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The outcomes are revealed in Superior Supplies.

“The know-how we now have developed holds vital promise in stopping the counterfeiting of priceless artworks and protection supplies, significantly in eventualities the place authenticity have to be verified in opposition to potential piracy,” Professor Lee defined.

The staff leveraged the inherent drawback of AgNPs, which are inclined to discolor upon publicity to UV mild, to create a managed shade improvement course of. By trapping silver nanoparticles inside a polymer matrix, researchers can manipulate particle dimension and, consequently, the colour emitted beneath UV mild. Bigger polymer nets yield silver nanoparticles that seem yellow, whereas smaller nets produce a pink hue, permitting for exact management of the resultant colours based mostly on ingredient combos.

Utilizing these high-molecular buildings as pixels, the analysis staff efficiently crafted high-resolution shade photographs. Using an automatic photo-etching approach, they lowered the fabrication time to one-tenth of conventional strategies, producing a picture of a parrot bigger than a typical enterprise card in simply half-hour. This digital course of permits for flawless shade printing, with exact management over saturation and tone.

Along with photographs, anti-counterfeiting knowledge might be discreetly embedded in preparations of polymer buildings that resemble pink, yellow, and blue barcodes. The colour response varies with UV publicity time, permitting for the storage of temporal info inside the barcode construction.

This revolutionary strategy permits info storage capabilities to extend greater than 1,000-fold in comparison with standard strategies, with a possible for limitless knowledge encoding by arranging barcode particles with out extra synthesis.

To reinforce the reliability of this know-how, the analysis staff developed a synthetic intelligence algorithm able to analyzing barcode authenticity. This AI system boasts a outstanding reliability charge of 98.36%, distinguishing real barcodes from counterfeit ones by assessing materials composition, UV publicity length, and barcode integrity.

“The simplicity of the manufacturing course of and the reproducibility of colours current a considerable alternative for the development of knowledge encryption methods, significantly in anti-counterfeiting functions,” acknowledged Byungcheon Yoo, the lead writer of the research.