Green emitting rare earth Gd2O3:Tb3+ nanoparticles for rapid imaging of latent fingerprint

Nabil M Maalej; Ahsanulhaq Qurashi; Ines Bennour; Lamia Rzouga Haddada; M Nasiruzzaman Shaikh; Muhammad Ilyas; Najoua Essoukri Ben Amara; Ramzi Maalej; Mohammad A Gondal

doi:10.1088/2050-6120/abdbc0

Green emitting rare earth Gd₂O₃:Tb³⁺ nanoparticles for rapid imaging of latent fingerprint

Methods Appl Fluoresc. 2021 Feb 22;9(2):025002. doi: 10.1088/2050-6120/abdbc0.

Authors

Nabil M Maalej^{1

2}, Ahsanulhaq Qurashi³, Ines Bennour⁴, Lamia Rzouga Haddada⁵, M Nasiruzzaman Shaikh¹, Muhammad Ilyas⁶, Najoua Essoukri Ben Amara⁵, Ramzi Maalej⁴, Mohammad A Gondal²

Affiliations

¹ Center of Excellence in Nanotechnology, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31262, Saudi Arabia.
² Physics Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31262, Saudi Arabia.
³ Chemistry Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31262, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Laboratoire Géoressouces, Matériaux, Environnement et Changements Globaux, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, Université de Sfax, 3018 Sfax, Tunisia.
⁵ Université de Sousse, Ecole Nationale d'Ingénieurs de Sousse, LATIS- Laboratory of Advanced Technology and Intelligent Systems, 4023, Sousse, Tunisia.
⁶ Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31262, Saudi Arabia.

PMID: 33445168
DOI: 10.1088/2050-6120/abdbc0

Abstract

A series of green emitting Gd₂O₃:Tb³⁺ (Tb: 0%-10% mol) nanoparticles (NP) were synthesized using the hydrothermal method, then characterized and evaluated for latent fingerprint visualization. X-ray diffraction study (XRD) revealed a cubic structure of the nanoparticles and the total incorporation of the terbium in the Gd₂O₃ matrix. Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive x-ray Spectrometry (EDX) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) were used to study the morphology and the elementary composition of the NP. Photoluminescence (PL) studies showed strong green emission around 540 nm due to the transition ⁵D₄ → ⁷F₅. The luminescence color of the synthesized NP was characterized by the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram. The potential use of the NP powders for the visualization of latent fingerprint under UV irradiation was assessed on various substrates. The latent fingerprint images revealed by the Gd₂O₃:Tb³⁺ NP powders are clear enough to extract and analyze reliable fingerprint features. The fingerprint quality was evaluated using three fingerprint quality assessment metrics and by extracting and measuring the visibility of the minutiae. The experimental results show very good quality images of the latent fingerprint acquired using the Gd₂O₃:Tb³⁺ NP and yield good minutiae extraction.