Construction of Heterogeneous Aggregation-Induced Emission Microspheres with Enhanced Multi-Mode Information Encryption

Zhiwei Wu; Weiqin Yu; Fenghao Luo; Yue Jin; Ligou Pan; Qianjun Deng; Qing Wang; Mingguang Yu

doi:10.3390/molecules29245852

Construction of Heterogeneous Aggregation-Induced Emission Microspheres with Enhanced Multi-Mode Information Encryption

Molecules. 2024 Dec 11;29(24):5852. doi: 10.3390/molecules29245852.

Authors

Zhiwei Wu¹, Weiqin Yu¹, Fenghao Luo², Yue Jin¹, Ligou Pan¹, Qianjun Deng¹, Qing Wang³, Mingguang Yu¹

Affiliations

¹ Guangdong Key Laboratory for Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Key Laboratory of Digital Decorative Materials for Building Ceramics in Guangdong Province, School of Materials and Energy, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanchang Hangkong University, Nanchang 330063, China.
³ Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Agro-Products, School of Food & Pharmaceutical Engineering, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Guangdong Engineering Technology Research Center of Food & Agricultural Product Safety Analysis and Testing, Zhaoqing University, Zhaoqing 526061, China.

Abstract

Traditional organic light-emitting materials hinder their anti-counterfeiting application in solid state due to their aggregation-caused quenching effect. A facile and straightforward method was reported to introduce AIE molecules into microspheres and manipulate different reaction parameters to prepare AIE microspheres with different morphologies. In this strategy, fluorescent microspheres with spherical, apple-shaped, and hemoglobin-like types were synthesized. Driven by the photocyclization and oxidation of tetraphenylethene, microspheres can be used as an aqueous fluorescence ink with erasable properties. The fluorescent patterns printed by microsphere ink on paper can be irreversibly erased by prolonged exposure to ultraviolet light (365 nm, 60 mw/cm²). Moreover, the multi-morphology microspheres can be further arranged for multiple-information encryption and anti-counterfeiting of barcodes and two-dimensional codes, in which double validation was carried out through fluorescence spectroscopy and laser confocal microscopy. This approach provides a new method for more reliable anti-counterfeiting and information encryption.

Keywords: AIE; anti-counterfeiting; heterogeneous microspheres; multi-mode information encryption; optical erasure.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.22108035, No.22208063), Characteristic Innovation Project of Ordinary Universities in Guangdong Province (2023KTSCX156), the Medical Science and Technology Research Fund of Guangdong Province (A2022004), the Key Project of Biomedicine and Health in Colleges and Universities of Guangdong Province (2021ZDZX2055), the Innovation Team Project for Colleges and Universities of Guangdong Province (2023KCXTD030), Guangdong Science and Technology Project (2021B1212050004), and Innovation team project of colleges and universities in Guangdong Province (2024KCXTD044), which are gratefully acknowledged. The APC was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.22108035).