Blue light-induced rare-earth free phosphors for the highly sensitive and selective imaging of latent fingerprints based on enhanced hydrophobic interaction

The demand for in-situ detection of latent fingerprints(LFPs)in ways of high sensitivity,high selectivity,high contrast,low cost and user-friendly is still urgent.To overcome this challenge,a moisture-stable,red-emitting fluoride phosphor K_(3)AlF_(6):Mn^(4+)(KAF:Mn^(4+))with an organic hydrophobic skin was prepared.The phosphor has a uniform and superfine morphology with excellent luminescence properties.More importantly,this non-ultraviolet(UV)or non-near infrared(NIR)induced phosphor was proved to be an ideal fluorescent label for LFP imaging,which is both friendly for touch DNA analysis and compatible to forensic light sources.The well-defined ridge details with little background interference on various surfaces were presented by the oleic acid(OA)modified KAF:Mn^(4+)(KAF:Mn^(4+)-OA)phosphor in few seconds using the powder dusting method.To confirm the high selectivity of KAF:Mn^(4+)-OA for LFP imaging,an efficient quantitative evaluation method is proposed with the aid of ImageJ&Origin software.Due to the superiority of the Mn^(4+)-doped fluoride for the rapid imaging of LFPs in terms of lowcost,high compatibility and good availability,it is expected to be a promising candidate for forensic science as well as fluorescence imaging in other fields instead of rare earth luminescent materials.