An aggregation-induced emission luminogen combined with a cyanoacrylate fuming method for latent fingerprint analysis

Fingerprints remain topologically unchanged in one's whole life, and therefore, have been used as a means to biometrically identify individuals in forensic investigations, law enforcement and access control. Appropriate methods are essential to obtain high-quality fingerprint images. In this contribution, an aggregation-induced emission luminogen tetraphenylethene-based dye FLA-2 was synthesized and characterized for the visualization of latent fingerprints (LFPs). LFPs can be directly visualized by incubating with the dye FLA-2 solution. And, after a cyanoacrylate fuming method pre-treatment stage, fine fingerprint structures can be obtained from level-1 to level-3 details. Two methods were compared using resolution, fluorescence intensity, and scanning electron microscopy imaging to investigate the influence of the cyanoacrylate fuming method pre-treatment stage. Furthermore, the visualization of old LFPs (7 d, 16 d and 30 d) on glass slides, aluminum foil and coin substrates also became effective after the pre-treatment step. The fluorescent LFP images mentioned above were all validated by using an automated fingerprint identification system obtaining positive matches. These results demonstrate the potential of this method to be applied to visualizing LFPs in the field of public security.