High humidity responsive cholesteric liquid crystal polymer film for anti-counterfeiting encryption applications

IF 4.2 3区材料科学 Q2 MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Optical Materials Pub Date : 2025-08-31 DOI:10.1016/j.optmat.2025.117461

Xiandi Zhang , Yunlong Dong , Yuzhou Chen , Yongjun Liu

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Cholesteric liquid crystal polymer network (CLCN) films exhibit broad application prospects in sensing, information encryption, and anti-counterfeiting due to their unique optical properties. However, traditional CLCN films suffer from a narrow tunable range of the central wavelength of the reflection band and low response sensitivity. This study designs a porous hydrogen-bonded CLCN film. By introducing hydrogen bonds, the film demonstrated hygroscopic properties after alkali treatment. Additionally, the removal of the non-reactive liquid crystal (LC) generates pores, which further enhances its moisture absorption ability and significantly expands the tunable range of the reflection band's central wavelength. The experimental results show that the prepared CLCN film can achieve a very large adjustable range of 303 nm at the center wavelength of the reflection band under the condition of relative humidity (RH) of 40 %–90 %, and can achieve a fast response of 5s. Additionally, based on acid-base reversibility, two anti-counterfeiting methods were designed. One is a reversible, repeatable single-state anti-counterfeiting approach, while the other is an irreversible, one-time dual-state anti-counterfeiting method. In summary, through ingenious chemical design of CLCN films, this work optimized humidity-responsive properties and innovated information encryption technology. It not only provides new insights for designing stimulus-responsive polymer materials but also opens new avenues for advancing information security and anti-counterfeiting technologies.

查看原文本刊更多论文

用于防伪加密应用的高湿响应胆甾型液晶聚合物薄膜

胆甾相液晶聚合物网络（CLCN）薄膜由于其独特的光学特性，在传感、信息加密、防伪等方面具有广阔的应用前景。然而，传统的CLCN薄膜存在反射带中心波长可调范围窄、响应灵敏度低的问题。本研究设计了一种多孔氢键CLCN膜。通过引入氢键，膜在碱处理后表现出吸湿性能。此外，非反应性液晶（LC）的去除产生了孔隙，进一步增强了其吸湿能力，并显著扩大了反射带中心波长的可调谐范围。实验结果表明，在相对湿度（RH）为40% ~ 90%的条件下，制备的CLCN薄膜在反射带中心波长处可实现非常大的303nm可调范围，并可实现5s的快速响应。此外，基于酸碱可逆性，设计了两种防伪方法。一种是可逆的、可重复的单态防伪方法，另一种是不可逆的、一次性的双态防伪方法。综上所述，本研究通过对CLCN薄膜进行巧妙的化学设计，优化了其湿度响应性能，创新了信息加密技术。它不仅为设计刺激响应聚合物材料提供了新的见解，而且为推进信息安全和防伪技术开辟了新的途径。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Optical Materials 工程技术-材料科学：综合

CiteScore

6.60

自引率

12.80%

发文量

1265

审稿时长

38 days

期刊介绍： Optical Materials has an open access mirror journal Optical Materials: X, sharing the same aims and scope, editorial team, submission system and rigorous peer review. The purpose of Optical Materials is to provide a means of communication and technology transfer between researchers who are interested in materials for potential device applications. The journal publishes original papers and review articles on the design, synthesis, characterisation and applications of optical materials. OPTICAL MATERIALS focuses on: • Optical Properties of Material Systems; • The Materials Aspects of Optical Phenomena; • The Materials Aspects of Devices and Applications. Authors can submit separate research elements describing their data to Data in Brief and methods to Methods X.