About the project
Anticounterfeiting and encryption are a cornerstone of modern communication. This project will build on recent developments in the Williams lab, focussing on the development of new organic photoswitches that can respond to multiple different stimuli in order to create next-generation physical encryption methods.
Anti-counterfeiting and cryptographic encryption are essential for secure and accurate transfer of information between parties, a cornerstone of both defence and civilian industries. Multi-responsive multi-state materials are emerging as a new class of physical encryption system, requiring the addition of specific stimuli in a specific order to unveil information, surpassing previously used “invisible inks”. However, decrypting these can often require specialist equipment.
The Williams group have recently discovered a novel class of photoswitch which compounds offer a number of advantages over currently reported systems including: easy synthesis, switching in the solid state, tuneable response from UV to visible light, and switchable fluorescence response. Moreover, we have recently shown that the switching of these motifs can be altered through the addition of either metal ion solutions of acids, providing additional layers of encryption.
In this highly interdisciplinary project you'll synthesise new libraries of these photoswitches, focussing on adding stimuli responsive functionality, and characterise their response using a range of techniques. With these in hands, you'll work in the school of engineering to fabricate a pen that can act as a microreactor, enabling a ‘mix and match’ approach to writing with multistimuli responsive inks based on the synthesised switches. In doing so you'll gain expertise in:
- organic synthesis and analysis
- photophysical analysis
- device design and fabrication
As well as be given the chance to attend conferences and present your work.
