Polymer banknotes

In order to minimize counterfeits, to reduce costs of production, and to increase the lifetime of their currencies many countries are or have already changed from paper to polymer bills. Some of the helpful features of these bills include transparent windows, optically variable devices, shadow images, and imbossed printing. These qualities make counterfeit bills not only more difficult and costly to produce but easier to detect. According to a report from the Asia-Pacific Business Review, as of June 2008 thirty-three countries worldwide have developed the technology for and released at least one polymer plastic bill. [1]

These bills not only incorporate visible components that are difficult to counterfeit but non-visible ones as well. These bills can be developed to absorb in the UV and IR regions, allowing for easy authentification. [1] Interestingly, FTIR can also be used to obtain fingerprints from the polymer bills [2].

Articles:
[1] NP Singh. Polymer Banknotes - A Viable Alternative to Paper Banknotes. Asia-Pacific Business Review, IV. 2(April-June 2008), 42-50.
[2] M Tahtouh, et al. The detection and enhancement of latent fingermarks using infrared chemical imaging. Journal of Forensic Sciences. 50 (1), January 2005, 64-72.