NCSU researchers develop new 'Alien Nanofiber' with potential for anti-counterfeiting
01 Sep '05
3 min read
The new nanofiber looks like an alien, but has the potential to serve anti-counterfeiting purposes.
The new nanofiber looks like an alien, but has the potential to serve anti-counterfeiting purposes.
Under a powerful microscope it looks like an alien – something out of Roswell, N.M., or “The X-Files.”
But a brand-new, tiny fiber dubbed the “alien nanofiber,” co-invented by a North Carolina State University textiles professor and a chemical engineering professor from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, has the potential to become a big deterrent to counterfeiters.
NC State's Dr. Juan Hinestroza, assistant professor of textile engineering, chemistry and science, and Dr. Carlos Rinaldi, assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, created novel nanoscale fibers that can be placed inside a garment or paper document and serve as a “fingerprint” that proves the garment or document is genuine. Graduate student Carola Barrera and high school student Aldo Briano are also involved in the research.
At about 150 nanometers in diameter, the fibers are smaller than living cells and invisible to the naked eye. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter; for comparison purposes, the Web site for the National Nanotechnology Initiative, a federal research and development initiative that coordinates multiagency efforts in nanoscale science, says that a human hair is about 80,000 nanometers wide, while a sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers wide.
The tiny fibers are designed to have within them even smaller nanoparticles with an electrical, magnetic or optical “signature” that can prove a product genuine. The product would need only be scanned, or read, by a device looking for the particular signature.
News 
marketing@alchempro.com
