| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 21, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 21, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1722229 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Linda Molnar
TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | June 15, 2017 |
| End Date: | November 30, 2018 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $225,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $225,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1314 Quincy St Rapid City SD US 57701-2509 (617)721-1685 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
SD US 57702-5306 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | STTR Phase I |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
This STTR Phase I project will support the development of a powerful new track-and-trace platform in the global fight against counterfeit products in high-risk supply chains. From pharmaceuticals to aviation to defense, many industries now face a growing problem with maintaining visibility to the authentic products in their supply chain, while identifying black market and grey market products that could harm their customers and have serious impacts on national security. This project will build on interdisciplinary research from materials science, photonics and information technology to create an innovative new platform that connects physical supply chains with digital supply chains through the use of covert codes that are placed onto products. These codes are printed using nanoparticles that are only visible when exposed to a laser with very specific properties. The security platform that this research enables will provide U.S. industry with a robust new system for authenticating genuine products and maintaining visibility throughout the global supply chain.
This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project develops a system designed to thwart counterfeiting. The system is based on 1) covert printed markings, carrying encoded information, that convert near infrared (NIR) excitation either to visible light or to shorter-wavelength NIR light, and 2) a proprietary reader-decoder system that is cyber-enabled to access secure data bases. The two major technical challenges addressed in this project both involve maximizing the overall signal-to-noise ratio of the system. The first challenge improves the long-term stability and up-converting nanoparticle payload-capacity of a novel, micro-emulsion (aqueous continuous-phase) ink. The second challenge creates micro- or nano-scale substrates that greatly amplify the up-conversion signal. Successfully overcoming these technical hurdles will significantly advance the readiness of the technology for commercialization and Phase II development. It is estimated that reaching the milestones specified within the specific research objectives will lead to a 250x enhancement of up-conversion intensity when using low excitation power densities. Such an enhancement would be transformational to the system and enable the use of lower laser powers in the reader/decoder device which in turn, would lower costs and greatly extend the utility of the system to, for example, a hand held, portable reader.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The current NSF STTR phase-I project is about increasing the emission intensity/output of the upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) so that lower laser power is required to illuminate them which is safer and much needed in some applications. These UCNP inks are used in marking and authenticating genuine products to protect the supply chains from the threats of counterfeiters. In particular water-based inks have applications in document security such as currency and identity documents. These inks can also be used for packaging in pharmaceuticals, consumer goods and other industries.
The outcomes of the project are:
- Water-based inks with highly loaded UCNPs were formulated and printed using regular desktop printers. Attached image 1 shows the ink that is printed on a paper which is covert in nature under ambient lighting but becomes visible under the near infrared laser.
- In addition, the surface of a glass slide was modified in such a way that the emission of the UCNPs was enhanced to a degree where very low laser power densities are enough to upconvert them. Attached image 2 shows the upconverted QR codes printed using the UCNP ink on manipulated area of the glass slide versus the regular area under the equal laser power densities.
Last Modified: 11/24/2018
Modified by: Jeevan M Meruga
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