Simple Vanilla Derivatives for Long-Lived Room-Temperature Polymer Phosphorescence as Invisible Security Inks

Yongfeng Zhang; Zhonghao Wang; Yan Su; Yan Zheng; Wenji Tang; Chaolong Yang; Hailong Tang; Lunjun Qu; Youbing Li; Yanli Zhao

doi:10.34133/2021/8096263

Simple Vanilla Derivatives for Long-Lived Room-Temperature Polymer Phosphorescence as Invisible Security Inks

Research (Wash D C). 2021 Feb 16:2021:8096263. doi: 10.34133/2021/8096263. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Yongfeng Zhang¹, Zhonghao Wang¹, Yan Su¹, Yan Zheng¹, Wenji Tang¹, Chaolong Yang^{1

2}, Hailong Tang¹, Lunjun Qu¹, Youbing Li¹, Yanli Zhao²

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing 400054, China.
² Division of Chemistry and Biological Chemistry, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637371.

Abstract

Developing novel long-lived room-temperature polymer phosphorescence (RTPP) materials could significantly expand their application scope. Herein, a series of RTPP materials based on eight simple vanilla derivatives for security ink application are reported. Attributed to strong mutual hydrogen bonding with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix, vanilla-doped PVA films exhibit ultralong phosphorescence emission under ambient conditions observed by naked eyes, where methyl vanillate shows the longest emission time up to 7 s. Impressively, when vanilla-doped PVA materials are utilized as invisible security inks, and the inks not only present excellent luminescent emission stability under ambient conditions but also maintain perfect reversibility between room temperature and 65°C for multiple cycles. Owing to the unique RTPP performance, an advanced anticounterfeiting data encoding/reading strategy based on handwriting technology and complex pattern steganography is developed.