Tunable solid-state fluorescent materials for supramolecular encryption

Hou, Xisen; Ke, Chenfeng; Bruns, Carson J.; McGonigal, Paul R.; Pettman, Roger B.; Stoddart, J. Fraser

Abstract

Tunable solid-state fluorescent materials are ideal for applications in security printing technologies. A document possesses a high level of security if its encrypted information can be authenticated without being decoded, while also being resistant to counterfeiting. Herein, we describe a heterorotaxane with tunable solid-state fluorescent emissions enabled through reversible manipulation of its aggregation by supramolecular encapsulation. The dynamic nature of this fluorescent material is based on a complex set of equilibria, whose fluorescence output depends non-linearly on the chemical inputs and the composition of the paper. By applying this system in fluorescent security inks, the information encoded in polychromic images can be protected in such a way that it is close to impossible to reverse engineer, as well as being easy to verify. This system constitutes a unique application of responsive complex equilibria in the form of a cryptographic algorithm that protects valuable information printed using tunable solid-state fluorescent materials.

Citation

Hou, X., Ke, C., Bruns, C. J., McGonigal, P. R., Pettman, R. B., & Stoddart, J. F. (2015). Tunable solid-state fluorescent materials for supramolecular encryption. Nature Communications, 6, Article 6884. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7884

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 9, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Apr 22, 2015
• Publication Date: Apr 22, 2015
• Deposit Date: Sep 14, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 13, 2016
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Article Number: 6884
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7884