Preliminary studies into fluorescent semiconductor nanorods for the detection of latent fingermarks: Size matters, shape matters.

The effect of the shape of semiconductor nanocrystals on their performance for visualising latent fingermarks was investigated for the first time. Highly luminescent CdSe/CdS core/shell nanocrystals in rod and spherical shapes were synthesised in organic solvent and transferred to aqueous solution using ligand exchange. The 3-mercaptopropionic acid coated nanorods and nanospheres were characterised using electron microscopy and UV-visible absorbance and luminescence spectrophotometry. A simple and rapid development of fresh to less than a week-old natural fingermarks from 4 donors (male and female) on non-porous surfaces including glass slides, aluminium foil and germanium disks using both CdSe/CdS core/shell nanorods and spherical dots was achieved, wherein nanorods demonstrated an enhanced development of ridge details in comparison to the spherical dots.