Institute of Microanalytical Systems, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Analyst. 2013 Apr 21;138(8):2357-62. doi: 10.1039/c3an00110e.
Visualization and detection of latent fingerprints (LFPs) on metal surfaces are of highly practical importance, e.g., in identifying gun cartridges. We report herein the visualization of LFPs on stainless steel surfaces by electrochemiluminescence (ECL). Since organic residues, such as fatty acids, in the fingerprint deposit make the underlying surface electrochemically inert or less active, an ECL reaction occurs only on the metal portions untouched by the fingertip, hence generating a negative image of the fingerprint. The popular ECL reaction solution, consisting of ruthenium(ii) tris(2,2'-bipyridyl) and tri-n-propylamine, was used for this imaging purpose. Factors, including the applied potential and the concentration of ECL luminophore, as well as the stability of ECL negative images, were investigated to achieve a satisfactory visualization enhancement. This imaging approach is simple, rapid, non-invasive, and no pre-treatment either on the background or on the fingerprint itself is needed. It constitutes a powerful tool for visualizing LFPs on metal surfaces. This method was also demonstrated to be suitable for enhancing LFPs collected from various surfaces.
在金属表面上可视化和检测潜在指纹（LFPs）具有非常重要的实际意义，例如在识别弹药筒时。我们在此报告了通过电致化学发光（ECL）在不锈钢表面上可视化 LFPs。由于指纹沉积物中的有机残留物（如脂肪酸）使底层表面电惰性或活性降低，因此只有未被指尖触及的金属部分发生 ECL 反应，从而生成指纹的负像。为此成像目的，使用了由钌（ii）三（2,2'-联吡啶）和三正丙胺组成的流行的 ECL 反应溶液。研究了包括施加电位和 ECL 发光体的浓度以及 ECL 负像的稳定性在内的因素，以实现令人满意的可视化增强。这种成像方法简单、快速、非侵入性，并且不需要对背景或指纹本身进行预处理。它构成了在金属表面上可视化 LFPs 的有力工具。该方法还被证明适用于增强从各种表面收集的 LFPs。
