Haydale, the global advanced materials group, has filed a patent application in the UK for a its PATit anti-counterfeiting technology, which uses proprietary software codes and a specialty graphene-based, transparent conductive ink. The graphene-based ink can be printed onto products and then ‘read’ by a device to prove their authenticity

The advanced materials group stated that it wants to initially target the anti-counterfeiting market as it is expected to double over the next four years to be worth more than US$200 billion by 2021. Haydale added that the filing of the application is an important in allowing it to begin discussions on potential commercial applications of the technology.

Since the ink is transparent, Haydale expects the technology will be a hit with clients as it won’t alter their products’ packaging design, while verification can be carried out by using a smartphone or tablet. The verification of a product is carried out using the capacitive touchscreen capability of a smart phone or tablet which has downloaded a special API code that enables the reader to measure the encoded graphene based ink.