Public Function StringToUnicode(ByVal value As String) As String
Dim bytes As Byte() = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(value)
Dim stringBuilder As StringBuilder = New StringBuilder()
For i As Integer = 0 To bytes.Length - 1 Step 2
stringBuilder.AppendFormat("\u{0}{1}", bytes(i + 1).ToString("x").PadLeft(2, "0"c), bytes(i).ToString("x").PadLeft(2, "0"c))
Next
Return stringBuilder.ToString()
End Function