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An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components
Published on: July 18, 2018
Piezochromic hydrogels for physically unclonable optical anti-counterfeiting with machine-learning assisted automatic
Jiayi Yang1, Jiayu Wu2,3, Guoliang Xiao1
1State Key Laboratory of High Pressure and Superhard Materials, College of Physics, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
Nature Communications
|May 8, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed a secure, uncopiable optical system using piezochromic polymer hydrogels (PPH) for advanced anti-counterfeiting. This technology offers reliable authentication by creating unique, pressure-responsive patterns for enhanced security.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Optics
- Polymer Chemistry
Background:
- High-security anticounterfeiting and reliable authentication are crucial to prevent economic losses and information leakage.
- Current methods face challenges in achieving robust security and efficient authentication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a physically uncopiable optical system for secure anticounterfeiting applications.
- To leverage piezochromic polymer hydrogels (PPH) for creating unique and reliably authenticable patterns.
Main Methods:
- Utilized piezochromic polymer hydrogels (PPH) that exhibit a pressure-induced emission transition from red to blue.
- Engineered stochastic spatial distribution of emissive particles to generate physically unclonable patterns.
- Developed a machine learning framework for rapid and robust authentication of the generated patterns.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated a stable, pressure-induced emission transition in PPH from red to blue, retained after pressure release.
- Achieved near-ideal randomness, high uniqueness, and reliability in the generated unclonable patterns.
- Validated a similarity-based machine learning approach for efficient and objective authentication.
Conclusions:
- Piezochromic polymer hydrogels provide a novel platform for physically unclonable optical systems.
- The developed system offers a promising solution for secure anticounterfeiting and reliable authentication.
- The integration of machine learning enhances the practicality and efficiency of the authentication process.
