Anti-counterfeit nanoscale fingerprints based on randomly distributed nanowires

Counterfeiting is conducted in almost every industry, and the losses caused by it are growing as today's world trade continues to increase. In an attempt to provide an efficient method to fight such counterfeiting, we herein demonstrate anti-counterfeit nanoscale fingerprints generated by randomly distributed nanowires. Specifically, we prepare silver nanowires coated with fluorescent dyes and cast them onto the surface of transparent PET film. The resulting non-repeatable patterns characterized by the random location of the nanowires and their fluorescent colors provide unique barcodes suitable for anti-counterfeit purposes. Counterfeiting such a fingerprint pattern is impractical and expensive; the cost of replicating it would be higher than the value of the typical target item being protected. Fingerprint patterns can be visually authenticated in a simple and straightforward manner by using an optical microscope. The concept of generating unique patterns by randomness is not limited to the materials shown in this paper and should be readily applicable to other types of materials.