Scientists from China have developed a new lithographic printing technique to layer a pattern onto photonic paper. The development could be significant for anti-counterfeit applications, such as hidden writing for anti-theft labels, because the pattern created is effectively invisible until the material is immersed in water.
The standard approach to photonic printing is to print a responsive material onto photonic paper, which will then react to an external stimulus and reveal the pattern. To see the pattern clearly, a high loading of the responsive material is needed, which often renders it visible before it has reacted. Creating the pattern is not a challenge, but keeping it hidden until it reacts to the stimulus is. Interested to know more? Read the full article in Chemistry World here…
The ‘invisible’ patterns on photonic prints are revealed in water and go back to their original state when dry
Read the paper from Journal of Materials Chemistry:
Invisible photonic prints shown by water
R Xuan and J Ge
J. Mater. Chem., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c1jm14082e
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