Nanomaterials and artificial intelligence in anti-counterfeiting

The ever-growing global problem of counterfeiting and forgery has created a demand for advanced anti-counterfeiting techniques with security labels that are inexpensive, hard to duplicate, and easy to verify. Solution-processable optical nanomaterials synthesized through controlled wet-chemical methods, with optical properties superior to their bulk counterparts, enable fabrication of security labels with unlimited pattern design capability and high encoding capacity at low cost. A typical decoding procedure for these security labels involves image registration and pattern matching. With an increase in the complexity of security labels, conventional authentication techniques, such as image processing technique and machine learning generally suffer from being time consuming and can generate a high level of false positives. Artificial intelligence offers a reliable solution to fast and accurate validation of complex security labels. This chapter summarizes the use of advanced optical nanomaterials for anti-counterfeiting applications and gives insight into state-of-the-art optical encryption and decryption techniques.