Colourful 3D anti-counterfeiting label using nanoscale additive manufacturing. Issue 1 (31st December 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Peng, S.; Sun, S.; Zhu, Y.; Qiu, J.; Yang, H.
• Is Part Of: Virtual and physical prototyping. Volume 18:Issue 1(2023)
• Publication Date: 2023-12-31
• Subjects: Two-photon polymerisation -- anti-counterfeiting label -- semiconductor quantum dot -- fluorescence; Rapid prototyping -- Periodicals; Virtual computer systems -- Periodicals; Prototypes, Engineering -- Periodicals; Production engineering -- Periodicals; Design, Industrial -- Periodicals; 670.285
• DOI: 10.1080/17452759.2023.2179929
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1745-2759

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Microprinting is changing anti-counterfeit technology by producing complex micro-/nano-scale labels to increase the security level. However, the current microprinted anti-counterfeiting labels only contain 2D features, thought of as single coding (e.g. mostly in texts or graphs), unable to satisfy the high-end anti-counterfeiting demands of producing multi-coding, high-storage-density labels. Here, we introduce an approach for fluorescence printing to produce a 3D colourful, sophisticated anti-counterfeiting label. In the method, pre-synthetic QDs are printed with photoresists based on two-photon polymerisation, allowing for accurate regulation of fluorescence in both 2D and 3D. The fabricated photoresists exhibit immediate and postprocessing-free colour emissions under UV light. We demonstrated the ultra-high free design and accurate manufacturing capability of the approach by fabricating multi-colour, multi-layer patterns containing both texts and graphs on a 50μm × 50μm × 30μm portable label. The approach can also be applied to multi-dimensional optical data storage and colourful microdisplays.