A new coloured anti-counterfeiting material has been developed that takes inspiration from the natural world.
Intended to add new impetus to the fight against forged bank note production and distribution, the material reproduces the spread of colours seen on a butterfly's wings to create a template that's deliberately tricky to reproduce.
The intricate, rainbow-like colour distribution is not a result of added pigmentation but appears that way because of the way the material's assembled (the end product is what's called a ‘photonic structure') and its appearance changes when viewed from different angles.
The British scientists who have produced this advanced anti-counterfeiting material think it has the potential to offer a cheaper and more practical way of safeguarding bank notes against counterfeiters.
But money's just one potential application - passports, too, could incorporate the material, they suggest.
The material itself features layers of copolymers which, individually, have no colour, but take on new qualities once blended.
Its development involved tests carried out at the UK's specialised Diamond Light Source facility. Here, x-ray tests were performed, to gain insight into how the structure functioned, how colours were displayed and how the basic model could be made better.
"Our aim was to mimic the wonderful and funky-coloured patterns found in nature, such as peacock feathers", Doctor Andrew Parnell, representing the University of Sheffield - one of two such institutions responsible for the material's creation - explained in a statement on the coloured anti-counterfeiting material.
"We now have a painter's palette of colours that we can choose from using just two polymers to do this. We think that these materials have huge potential to be used commercially."
"Small angle s-ray scattering is a simple technique that in this case has provided valuable confirmatory information", Nick Terrill, from Diamond Light Source, explained. "By using Diamond's x-rays to confirm the structure of the polymer, the group was able to identify the appropriate blends for the colours required, meaning they can now tailor the polymer composition accordingly."
Image used solely for illustrative purposes and not representative of subject matter
See also -
News:
Counterfeit-Proof Microchip Technology
Products and Services:
Companies supplying Anti-Counterfeiting Technologies
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