Exploring high-safety but convenient encryption and decryption technologies to combat threats of information leakage is urgently needed but remains a great challenge. Here, a synergistically time-and temperature-resolved information coding/decoding solution based on functional photonic inks is demonstrated. Encrypted messages can be stored into multiple channels with dynamic-color patterns, and information decryption is only enabled at appointed temperature and time points. Notably, the ink can be easily processed into quick-response codes and multipixel plates. With high transparency and responsive color variations controlled by ink compositions and ambient temperatures, advanced 3D stacking multichannel coding and Morse coding techniques can be applied for multi-information storage, complex anticounterfeiting, and information interference. This study paves an avenue for the design and development of dynamic photonic inks and complex encryption technologies for high-end anticounterfeiting applications. IntroductionNowadays, information security has imposed a tremendous impact on human living, social stability, and even national security, causing urgent requirements of anticounterfeiting materials and advanced encryption/decryption technologies. [1][2][3][4][5][6] To this end, anticounterfeiting materials, including watermarks, [7][8][9]
Numerous biological systems in nature provide much inspiration for humanity to master diverse coloration strategies for creating stimuli-responsive materials and display devices, such as to access gorgeous structural colors from well-defined photonic structures. Cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) are a fascinating genre of photonic materials displaying iridescent colors responsive to circumstance changes; however, it is still a big challenge to design materials with broadband color variation as well as good flexibility and freestanding capacity. Herein, we report a feasible and flexible strategy to fabricate cholesteric liquidcrystal networks (CLCNs) with precise colors across the entire visible spectrum through molecular structure tailoring and topology engineering and demonstrate their application as smart displays and rewritable photonic paper. Influences of chiral and achiral LC monomers on the thermochromic behaviors of CLC precursors as well as on the topology of the polymerized CLCNs are systematically investigated, demonstrating that the monoacrylate achiral LC facilitated the formation of a smectic phase−chiral phase (Sm−Ch) pretransitional phase in the CLC mixture and improved the flexibility of the photopolymerized CLCNs. High-resolution multicolor patterns in one CLCN film are generated through photomask polymerization. In addition, the freestanding CLCN films show perceivable mechanochromic behaviors and repeated erasing−rewriting performances. This work opens avenues toward the realization of pixelated colorful patterns and rewritable CLCN films promising in technology fields ranging from information storage and smart camouflage to anti-counterfeiting and smart display.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.