Multidimensional Integration of Reversible Dynamic Information Enables Advanced Anticounterfeiting

Stimuli-responsive polymers have been widely used to diversify anticounterfeiting technologies. However, creating multilevel anticounterfeiting strategies using these polymers remains challenging due to the compatibility and mutual interference between different responsive signals, resulting in a low information resolution. Herein, we propose a strategy to enhance anticounterfeiting capacity by dimensionally integrating dynamic information and leveraging the orthogonal, non-interfering multistimuli responses of functional molecules. Specifically, distinct stimuli-responsive polymers were integrated into a module matrix, enabling multilevel information storage. At the molecular scale, diverse functional molecules are incorporated into polymer backbones to augment multicolored changes under different external stimuli. From the orthogonal combination of several types of stimuli-responsive polymers, this strategy enables the preparation of anticounterfeiting labels and QR codes with multilevel encryption and decryption capability. Altering the type and sequence of external stimuli allows these labels and QR codes to display dynamic information via a combined color change, thereby expanding the information storage capacity and enhancing anticounterfeiting levels. This multidimensional integration strategy of distinct stimuli-responsive polymers opens opportunities for high-security anticounterfeiting applications.