Application of Electrodepositing Graphene Nanosheets for Latent Fingerprint Enhancement

Abstract

Fingerprints are still one of the most powerful and important means of biometric identification. This paper presents a green and fast electrochemical method for improved development of latent fingerprints (LFPs) on five kinds of commonly encountered conductive substrates by the use of spatial selective electrodeposition of graphene nanosheets. Since secretions produced in the fingerprint deposit lead the underlying surface to be electrochemically inert or less active, the electrodeposition process only occurs on the areas without fingerprint residue. As a result, a high contrast negative image of the fingerprint was achieved by the electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) after optimizing the factors (applied potential, deposition time and scan rate).

Latent Fingermarks Enhancement in Deep Eutectic Solvent by Co-electrodepositing Silver and Copper Particles on Metallic Substrates

“…We first introduced the enhancement strategy of LFMs on several conducting surfaces using electrochemical deposition of gold and silver nanoparticles in aqueous solution [18]. Later, we have further extended this visualizing method by depositing other materials such as copper [21], graphene [20] and Prussian blue [19]. All of the above-mentioned approaches the electrochemical reactions occurred in aqueous solution.…”

“…These electrochemical methods contain electrochemistry coupled with surface plasmon resonance (E-SPR) [15], electrochemiluminescence [17], electropolymerization [6,16,22,23] and electrochemical deposition [18][19][20][21]. The high visualization quality of electrochemistry enhancement is due to the different reactive behaviours (the SPR signal and the polymerization or deposition of electrochemically active species) between the insulating LFMs ridges parts (fatty acids) and the conductive free parts (LFMs valleys and the free parts of the substrate).…”

“…These approaches contain destructive developments (aqueous electrolyte immersion [8] and fluorescence [9]) and non-destructive developments (optical reflection [10], metal sputtering [11], scanning Kelvin probe [12,13], infrared spectroscopic imaging [14], electrochemistry [6,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]). The destructive developments are helpful for high contrast visualization of LFMs but not recommended because they would disturb the subsequent DNA analysis by decomposing DNA under the circumstance of UV light or highly acidic/alkaline electrolyte.…”

Magnetic composite based on cellulose and GO for latent fingerprint visualization

“…Thus, it needs chemical or physical non-toxic material enhancement to make it visible [3]. The common developments strongly depend on using suitable reagents to interact or react easily with the latent fingerprint components as glycerides, fatty acids, and amino acids to enhance the visual contrast against the background surface [4]. Although various methods have been used for latent fingerprint detection, such as vacuum metal deposition [5], scanning Kelvin microprobe [6]and Infrared spectroscopy [7], the powder method is the most common because it is a non-toxic, cost-effective, and simple process.…”

Candle Soot Coating for Latent Fingermark Enhancement on Various Surfaces

“…They are effective under most ordinary circumstances, while they are toxic to operators’ health and not always suitable for all the fingermarks encountered. Some other approaches, such as vacuum metal deposition (VMD), multi-metal deposition (MMD) and electrochemical deposition (ECD) are notable techniques for LFM detection on different surfaces, while they also have their own shortcomings [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. VMD requires special vacuum instruments, which limits its wider application.…”