A US technology firm has developed nano barcodes using platinum nanoparticles for use in product track and trace and authentification.

Oxonica has been trialling the technology to enable products such as pharmaceutical pills to be embedded with the identification barcodes, convertingmagazine.com reports.

It is hoped that this well help stem the flood of counterfeit products and will enable theft to be traced more easily.

The first application for Oxonica's technology is likely to be in either packaging or labelling, convertingmagazine.com predicts, with the firm hoping to extend its scope so that it can be used as a thread and used on materials.

The nano barcodes use platinum particles, along with those of gold and silver, to provide different reflectivity which creates stripes to form the code, which can then be examined through a specially adapted microscope.

It is thought that this will most probably be used as what the technology website calls a "last level taggant", and will be employed at top level within companies, with knowledge of the nano barcodes extended to very few staff.

Source:

Role of nanotechnology in brand protection
http://www.convertingmagazine.com/cgi-bin/current.cgi?view=9_07_34.html

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