Luminescence of a novel cyan emitting Sr10(PO4)6O:Ce3+ phosphor for visualization of latent fingerprints and anti-counterfeiting applications

The fingerprints are commonly latent for detection at crime scenes and thus the effective way for analysis and detection of latent fingerprints is important. Currently, the traditional powder dusting method has low resolution, sensitivity, contrast and high background noise. To solve these problems, we synthesized the Ce3+ doped strontium phosphate phosphors (Sr10(PO4)6O:xCe3+, x = 0.01–0.1 mol) with cyan color by a facile solid state reaction route. The X-ray diffraction patterns of Sr10(PO4)6O:xCe3+ phosphors confirmed the hexagonal phase. The emission peak centered at 472 nm is attributed to 5D3/2 → 7FJ transitions (J = 7/2 and 5/2) of Ce3+ ions with the CIE coordinates value of (x = 0.171, y = 0.256). Using Sr10(PO4)6O:Ce3+ phosphors, the latent fingerprints with various ridge shapes (arch, whorl and loop) and on substrates (glass, aluminum foil, stainless steel, compact disk and credit card) exhibited excellent visualization and sensitivity with clear ridges under 254 nm UV illumination. The results indicate that Sr10(PO4)6O:Ce3+ phosphors can be effectively used in fingerprint identification and anti-counterfeiting applications.