Uncovering Aggregation‐Induced Emission in Carbon Dots for Color‐Changing Hydrogels and Information Encryption
Jiafeng Wan, Shiyi Chen, Haopu Su, Tim Muschik, Tongtong Cui, Yosuke Akae, Dominik Voll, Christian W Schmitt, Stefan Bräse, Tao Chen, Andreas‐Neil Unterreiner, Patrick Théato · 2026
Read Uncovering Aggregation‐Induced Emission in Carbon Dots for Color‐Changing Hydrogels and Information Encryption by Jiafeng Wan, Shiyi Chen, Haopu Su, Tim Muschik, Tongtong Cui, Yosuke Akae, Dominik Voll, Christian W Schmitt, Stefan Bräse, Tao Chen, Andreas‐Neil Unterreiner, Patrick Théato (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13528517.txt.
Description
Jiafeng Wan and eleven colleagues make carbon dots that change glow color with their surroundings in a 2026 chemistry paper. The dots were cooked from citric acid and urea, a classic pairing. Scattered in water they shine blue. Clumped in another solvent they shine red. The team traced the switch to stacking between flat molecules and solvent effects.
Tuning solvent polarity shifts the spacing between dots and thus the color. That trick was put to work in printing. Hidden messages appear only under the right conditions, a guard against counterfeits. Mixed into a soft gel, the dots formed glowing pads that store coded information. The authors say such state-dependent glow widens what carbon dots can do. Security printing and smart labels are the near-term targets.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Jiafeng Wan, Shiyi Chen, Haopu Su, Tim Muschik, Tongtong Cui, Yosuke Akae, Dominik Voll, Christian W Schmitt, Stefan Bräse, Tao Chen, Andreas‐Neil Unterreiner, Patrick Théato |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 56254 |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |