Inorganic DNA: How nanoparticles could be the future of anti-counterfeiting tech

For decades, manufacturers and security professionals have been playing a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with counterfeiters. From holograms and QR codes to RFID tags and serial numbers, the industry’s toolkit has evolved, but so have the threats. Now, Italian startup Particular Materials is taking a radically different approach: tagging physical goods at the molecular level using engineered nanomaterials.

“Our idea was simple,” says Francesco Zanin, CEO of Particular Materials. “What if we could give materials their own unique, embedded identity, one that’s invisible, unremovable, and incredibly hard to fake?”

That idea didn’t come from the anti-counterfeiting world. It emerged from their work in electrocatalysis and nanotechnology, where the team was developing exotic materials for hydrogen production under high-pressure, high-temperature conditions. As they pushed the limits of what their process could produce, a new possibility emerged.

“We realized that we could create very complex, precisely controlled nanomaterials and scale them,” Zanin says. “At some point, we asked ourselves: could we use this to make a kind of fingerprint for products?”

The answer was yes. And the result is a traceability system that’s now being piloted in sectors ranging from luxury goods to automotive, with eyes on defense, aerospace, and critical infrastructure.

A marker you can’t see and can’t fake

The solution, Elementag, works by embedding nanoparticles directly into the product or material, like an invisible ink that’s distributed throughout the object. These particles don’t affect how the material looks or performs, but they can be quickly identified using portable XRF (X-ray fluorescence) devices, revealing a chemical signature that’s unique to the manufacturer or even to a specific product batch.

It’s like “inorganic DNA,” Zanin says, resilient to heat, friction, and chemical exposure, and far more secure than surface-level tags.

That’s a major upgrade from the status quo. “RFID, QR codes, engraving—these are visible, localized, and can be easily removed or copied,” Zanin explains. “Worse, they’re often added only at the final stage of production, which makes them useless for tracking what happens earlier in the supply chain.”

In contrast, Elementag’s markers are covert, persistent, and embedded from the start. They can’t be peeled off or scanned from a distance. They’re baked in, and they travel with the item wherever it goes.

Supply chain integrity meets cyber-physical security

Why does this matter for cybersecurity? Because supply chain integrity is increasingly a security issue, not just a logistical one.

“When a counterfeit part makes it into a car, or a ghost shift produces unauthorized inventory, you’re not just looking at financial damage. You’re looking at potential safety and national security risks,” says Zanin. “If you can’t trust the physical component, your whole system is compromised.”

Elementag’s technology can help verify that a component is authentic, hasn’t been tampered with, and belongs in the system where it was installed. It also enables brands to detect and trace gray market activity such as unauthorized resellers or diverted inventory without tipping off the bad actors.

“You can tag items covertly, track them through multiple stages, and confirm authenticity on-site without sending anything to a lab,” Zanin says. “That’s a big deal for investigations and enforcement.”

Resistant by design

Of course, any new traceability solution needs to stand up to determined adversaries. Zanin doesn’t claim the system is bulletproof, but it comes close.

“To tamper with or duplicate our markers, you’d need to know they exist, find them, figure out their exact composition, and replicate them using specialized nanomaterial manufacturing techniques,” he says. “Even if you got all that right, reproducing them at scale and cost-effectively is another challenge entirely.”

Unlike one-size-fits-all tags, Elementag customizes the composition of each marker for different clients or product lines, adding another layer of complexity for would-be counterfeiters.

“Nothing is impossible,” Zanin acknowledges. “But we’re making it incredibly difficult. It’s about raising the bar so high that it’s not worth the effort.”

Integration and real-world deployment

Despite the technology’s sophistication, Elementag is designed to integrate seamlessly into existing manufacturing workflows. “In most cases, our marker is just another additive,” Zanin explains. “We avoid requiring an extra step unless absolutely necessary.”

For verification, operators use handheld XRF guns, which can be pre-calibrated for each marker type. “It’s as easy as point and shoot,” he says. “Even non-technical personnel can do it. And for high-throughput environments, in-line detection systems are also possible.”

So far, luxury brands have shown the most urgency, particularly those dealing with counterfeits, secondhand verification, and insurance fraud. But Zanin sees enormous potential in automotive, defense, aerospace, and mining, where authenticity and supply chain control are critical.

“In the short term, luxury has the best value-to-volume ratio and the most flexible manufacturing,” he says. “But long-term, the biggest impact will be in sectors where physical integrity is a matter of safety or national interest.”

The road ahead

Elementag isn’t yet working with regulators or standards bodies, but Zanin expects that to change. “We’ve had early conversations. There’s a growing awareness that traceability needs to go beyond labels and QR codes,” he says. “And we’re ready to help set that standard.”

For now, the startup is focused on refining its pilot programs and scaling up production. But the mission is bring physical-layer authentication to the forefront of cybersecurity conversations.

“Digital security has made huge strides,” Zanin says. “But we can’t forget the physical world. That’s still where things start, and where things can go wrong.”

As the line between physical and cyber threats keeps getting blurrier, Elementag’s invisible markers might just be the next big thing you’ll never see.