Improving banknote security with organic electronics

Counterfeiting of bank notes has always been a problem and central banks are leading a high-tech fight against sophisticated counterfeiting operations. For instance, when the European Central Bank (ECB) designed its new banknotes, they included a variety of security features – holograms, foil stripes, special threads, microprinting, special inks and watermarks (see here for an interactive display of security features).

Nevertheless, there were rumors already at the start of the euro that the ECB was working on embedding radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to further enhance security. A RFID tag's ability to read and write information to a banknote could make it very difficult, for example, for kidnappers or bank robbers to ask for 'unmarked' bills. A tag would give governments and law enforcement agencies a means to literally track these bills.