FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: February 17, 2021

Edible holograms could someday decorate foods


ACS Nano

Holograms are everywhere, from driver鈥檚 licenses to credit cards to product packaging. And now, edible holograms could someday enhance foods. Researchers reporting in听ACS Nano听have developed a laser-based method to print nanostructured holograms on dried corn syrup films. The edible holograms could also be used to ensure food safety, label a product or indicate sugar content, the researchers say.

Most holograms are imprinted with lasers onto metal surfaces, such as aluminum, but the materials aren鈥檛 edible. For foods, holograms made with nanoparticles have been proposed, but the tiny particles can generate reactive oxygen species, which might be harmful for people to eat. In a different approach, food scientists have molded edible holograms onto chocolate, but the process only works for certain types of the confection, and a different mold is needed for each hologram design. Bader AlQattan, Haider Butt and colleagues wanted to find a safe, fast and versatile way to pattern edible holograms onto a variety of foods.

To develop their method, the researchers made a solution of corn syrup, vanilla and water and dried it into a thin film. They coated the film with a fine layer of non-toxic black dye. Then, they used a technique called direct laser interference patterning to etch off most of the dye, leaving behind raised, nanoscale lines that formed a diffraction grating. When struck by light, the nanostructure diffracted the light into a rainbow pattern, with different colors appearing at different angles of viewing. The team could control the intensity and range of colors by varying the spacing between lines in the grating or the sugar content of the corn syrup film. Before edible holograms are ready to hit store shelves, however, the researchers want to adapt the method to a food-grade dye that could replace the synthetic black dye used in these pilot experiments.

The authors acknowledge funding from听,听,听听and the听.

###

The American Chemical 中国365bet中文官网 (ACS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1876 and chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS is committed to improving all lives through the transforming power of chemistry. Its mission is to advance scientific knowledge, empower a global community and champion scientific integrity, and its vision is a world built on science. The 中国365bet中文官网 is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, e-books and weekly news periodical听Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world鈥檚 scientific knowledge. ACS鈥� main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

Registered journalists can subscribe to the to access embargoed and public science press releases. For media inquiries, contact newsroom@acs.org.

Note: ACS does not conduct research but publishes and publicizes peer-reviewed scientific studies.

Media Contact

ACS Newsroom
newsroom@acs.org

###

La sociedad American Chemical 中国365bet中文官网 (ACS) es una organizaci贸n sin fines de lucro fundada en 1876 y aprobada por el Congreso de los Estados Unidos. La ACS se ha comprometido a mejorar la vida de todas las personas mediante la transformaci贸n del poder de la qu铆mica. Su misi贸n es promover el conocimiento cient铆fico, empoderar a la comunidad global y defender la integridad cient铆fica, y su visi贸n es un mundo construido bas谩ndose en la ciencia. La Sociedad es l铆der mundial en la promoci贸n de la excelencia en la educaci贸n cient铆fica y en el acceso a informaci贸n e investigaci贸n relacionadas con la qu铆mica a trav茅s de sus m煤ltiples soluciones de investigaci贸n, publicaciones revisadas por expertos, conferencias cient铆ficas, libros electr贸nicos y noticias semanales peri贸dicas de Chemical & Engineering News. Las revistas de la ACS se encuentran entre las m谩s citadas, las m谩s fiables y las m谩s le铆das en la literatura cient铆fica; sin embargo, la propia ACS no realiza investigaci贸n qu铆mica. Como l铆der en soluciones de informaci贸n cient铆fica, su divisi贸n CAS se asocia con innovadores internacionales para acelerar los avances mediante la preservaci贸n, la conexi贸n y el an谩lisis de los conocimientos cient铆ficos del mundo. Las sedes principales de la ACS se encuentran en Washington, D.C., y Columbus, Ohio.

Los periodistas registrados pueden suscribirse al en EurekAlert! para acceder a comunicados de prensa p煤blicos y retenidos.听 Para consultas de los medios, comun铆quese con newsroom@acs.org.

Nota: ACS no realiza investigaciones, pero publica y divulga estudios cient铆ficos revisados por expertos.鈥�

Nanostructures (yellowish-green images; scale bar, 5 渭m) were patterned onto dried corn syrup films, producing edible, rainbow-colored holograms (scale bar, 2 mm).
Credit: Adapted from ACS Nano 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c02438
View the image