From apparel to pharmaceuticals, the global impact of counterfeit goods can reach up to $1.7 trillion annually across numerous markets. To tackle this important issue, Indiana University research chemist Sara Skrabalak is using nanoparticles to develop anticounterfeit tags and environmental sensors that mark critical components to confirm if an item has been tampered with. She is seeking industry partnerships to commercialize this technology to better address industry security needs.
The nanoparticles, which are microscopic particles undetectable by the human eye, can be used to create random patterns that are easy to produce, yet extremely difficult to replicate. The randomly deposited nanoparticles, when imaged with an optical microscope, create optical-based physical unclonable functions known as nanoscale fingerprints that can be used to track and trace items.
Skrabalak is the James H. Rudy Professor and Robert and Marjorie Mann Chair in the Department of Chemistry at IU Bloomington’s College of Arts and Sciences. She and her graduate student Sarah Gorski pursued this topic during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thinking about supply chains and the potential issues that could arise with the transport of critical goods, such as COVID-19 vaccines. Because some vaccines require a cold temperature for transport and storage, they believed tags that showcased if these conditions were being met—from the manufacturing facilities to pharmacies—could be useful.
After discovering how useful the tags could be for pharmaceuticals, Skrabalak and her team decided to expand the use of the tags across numerous sectors.
“This need for awareness of how or if conditions were being met when transporting critical goods ultimately sparked my team to create these nanoparticle anticounterfeit tags with the ability to provide that type of data,” Skrabalak said.
“With these nanofingerprints, we can authenticate if an item is counterfeit, has been tampered with or has experienced environmental changes, thus providing improved security for products across various sectors.”
Recently, Skrabalak and her team have been advancing this research by translating the approach onto different surfaces such as flexible and deformable surfaces.
“As many critical goods are created or packaged in plastics, integrating this technology into such materials is essential,” Skrabalak said.
Skrabalak’s research group aims to synthesize and design inorganic nanomaterials to strengthen security in applications such as electronics, food and medicine packaging, and apparel, but also advance energy applications.
Skrabalak has disclosed four inventions to the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office, and patents have been filed to protect her research.
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