Fingermark detection using upconverting nanoparticles and comparison with cyanoacrylate fuming

Fehmida K Kanodarwala; Adam Leśniewski; Izabela Olszowska-Łoś; Xanthe Spindler; Izabela S Pieta; Chris Lennard; Joanna Niedziółka-Jönsson; Sébastien Moret; Claude Roux

doi:10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110915

Fingermark detection using upconverting nanoparticles and comparison with cyanoacrylate fuming

Forensic Sci Int. 2021 Jul 20:326:110915. doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110915. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Fehmida K Kanodarwala¹, Adam Leśniewski², Izabela Olszowska-Łoś², Xanthe Spindler³, Izabela S Pieta², Chris Lennard⁴, Joanna Niedziółka-Jönsson², Sébastien Moret³, Claude Roux³

Affiliations

¹ University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: fehmida.kanodarwala@uts.edu.au.
² Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
³ University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, NSW, Australia.
⁴ Western Sydney University, School of Science, NSW, Australia.

PMID: 34343943
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2021.110915

Abstract

This paper reports the synthesis of high-quality upconverting nanoparticles (UCNPs) - sodium yttrium tetrafluoride doped with ytterbium and erbium (NaYF₄:Yb,Er) with a silica shell and capped with phenyl functional groups. The main goal of this research was to design tailor-made UCNPs for fingermark detection, to test and validate a nanoparticle-based detection technique and to compare their performance against a benchmark method to assess potential implementation in routine practice by law enforcement agencies. The water-based UCNPs solution was applied to natural fingermarks on a number of substrates. This is the first ever systematic comparative study between UCNPs and a benchmark fingermark detection technique - cyanoacrylate fuming (CAF) followed by luminescent dye staining. Fingermark detection effectiveness was studied by treating 300 latent fingermark specimens on aluminium foil, polyethylene, polypropylene and glass slides. It was concluded that, on average, CAF performed better across the substrates tested. Nevertheless, UCNPs can be advantageous for fingermark detection on multicoloured, patterned or luminescent substrates due to their unique optical properties. There are, however, shortfalls associated with their synthesis and use that need to be addressed before they can be considered for operational purposes.

Keywords: Anti-Stokes luminescence; Benchmark comparison; Fingerprints; Silica; UCNPs; Upconverter.