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Advanced Compositional Analysis of Nanoparticle-polymer Composites Using Direct Fluorescence Imaging
Published on: July 19, 2016
Fluorescence development of fingerprints by combining conjugated polymer nanoparticles with cyanoacrylate fuming
Hong Chen1, Rong-Liang Ma2, Zhinan Fan3
1State and Local Joint Engineering Laboratory for Novel Functional Polymeric Materials,Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, PR China; School of Nano-Science and Nano-Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University Suzhou Research Institute, Suzhou 215123, PR China.
Abstract:
Selecting appropriate developing methods/reagents or their combination to enhance the effect for fingerprint development is of great significance for practical forensic investigation. Ethyl-2-cyanoacrylate ester (superglue) fuming is a popular method for "in-situ" developing fingerprints in forensic science, followed by fluorescence staining to enhance the contrast of the fingerprint image in some occasion. In this study, a series of fluorescent poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) nanoparticles (NPs) in colloidal solution were successfully prepared and the emission color was tuned via a simple way. The fuming process was carried out using a home-made device. The staining was accomplished by immersing a piece of absorbent cotton into the solution of NPs, and then gently applied on the fumed fingerprints for several times. The PPV NPs were found to have a better developing effect than Rhodamine 6G when excited by 365 nm UV lamp. Different emission colors of NPs are advantageous in developing fingerprints on various substrates. Mechanism study suggested that the NPs were embedded in the porous structure of the superglue resin. In all, the combination of fuming method with the staining by conjugated polymer NPs has been demonstrated to be successful for fluorescent fingerprint development and be promising for more practical forensic applications.
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