Glowing Fingerprints To Identify Criminals

Glowing Fingerprints To Identify Criminals

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For over a century fingerprints were used as a main method to identify people by law enforcement agencies, but even after so long, the field is not standing still. Recently researchers have managed to upgrade the system by adding liquid containing crystals surfaces, investigators using a UV light are able to see invisible fingerprints “glow” in about thirty seconds.

A research published in Advanced Materials explained that the strong luminescent effect creates greater contrast between the latent print and surface enabling higher resolution images to be taken for easier and more precise analyses. The study shows that tiny crystals rapidly bind to fingerprint residue, including proteins, peptides, fatty acids and salts, creating an ultrathin coating that’s an exact replica of the pattern. MOF crystals have a number of benefits in that they are cheap, react quickly and can emit a bright light.

Materials scientist Dr. Kang Liang believes that this technique could be used for more challenging evidence where conventional “dusting” is not appropriate. Although police and forensics experts use a range of different techniques, sometimes in complex cases evidence needs to be sent off to a lab where heat and vacuum treatment is applied.

This new method, however, reduces these steps, and because it’s done on the spot, a digital device could be used at the scene to capture images of the glowing prints to run through the database in real time. “Because it works at a molecular level it’s very precise and lowers the risk of damaging the print,” Liang said.

This new method would save precious time and money as well as reinforce the investigation’s findings.

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