Novel bifunctional lanthanide-centered nanophosphors for latent fingerprint detection and anti-counterfeiting applications

Abstract

Production of hybrid organic/inorganic complexes such as lanthanide phosphors in the nanodomain for human fingerprint visualization and anti-counterfeiting ink under biocompatible UVA and blue light has not yet been studied that thoroughly. This paper presents the preparation of novel, bifunctional, green and red nanophosphors based on Eu3+ and Tb3+ complexes with quinolinone ligand (H2L). They have been prepared and characterized for latent fingerprint detection and anti-counterfeiting ink applications. The analytical data confirm that the ligand acts in a monoanionic bidentate manner through OO donor sites, forming mononuclear complexes, formulated as [Ln(HL)3(C2H5OH)3] (Ln = Eu3+ or Tb3+; L = 1-ethyl-4-hydroxy-3-(nitroacetyl)quinolin-2-(1H)-one). The Eu3+ and Tb3+ complexes have nanospherical morphologies with average particle sizes of 17 and 5 nm, respectively. Pure red and green photoluminescence with long lifetime values has been obtained from the Eu3+ and Tb3+ complexes, respectively, under non-harmful UVA and blue illumination. Latent fingerprint details, including their characteristic three levels, have been clearly identified from various forensic (non-porous, semi-porous, highly fluorescent porous) substrates using red (Eu3+) and green (Tb3+) nanophosphors. The green nanophosphor powder has a greater capability for visualizing latent fingerprints from highly fluorescent porous surfaces as compared to the red one. Both nanophosphor complexes have been used to develop luminescent ink for anti-counterfeiting applications.