Designer nanofibre

Tiny fibres - co-invented by a North Carolina State University textiles professor and a chemical engineering professor from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez - have 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 the novel nanoscale fibres that can be placed inside a garment or paper document and serve as a “fingerprint” that proves the garment or document is genuine.

At about 150 nanometres in diameter, the fibres are smaller than living cells and invisible to the naked eye, and 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.