Tuesday, 17th April 2007 (4026 views)

A new method of identifying and recording fingerprints could provide a welcome boost to law enforcement agencies.

Researchers in Israel have adapted the traditional gold nanoparticle method to cut development time and help improve the recovery of prints from difficult surfaces.

Fingerprints are currently highlighted by coating areas with a watery suspension of gold nanoparticles and citrate ions.

Using a solution of silver ions, which react with the positively charged particles in the print, leaving a silvery outline.

But a team of researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led by Dr Daniel Mandler and Dr Joseph Almog have developed a more stable solution by adding hydrocarbon chains to the gold particles and suspending them in a petroleum ether solution.

The researchers found that their method cut development time by fluorescing the print.

"This use of nanotechnology in the fingerprint community can bring novel and practical solutions to develop and enhance latent fingerprints that would otherwise remain undetected," said Dr Claude Roux, director of the Centre for Forensic Science at the University of Technology in Sydney, Australia.

The study was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemical Communications.

 

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