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Yuan C, Li M, Wang M, Lv J, Sun Y, Lu T, Jia Y, Cao H, Lin T. Non-destructive and simultaneous development and enhancement of latent fingerprints on stainless steel based on the electrochromic effect of electrodeposited manganese oxides. Talanta 2024; 275:126148. [PMID: 38705016 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2024] [Revised: 04/17/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024]
Abstract
Latent fingerprints, as one of the most frequently encountered traces in crime scene investigation and also one of the largest sources of forensic evidence, can play a critical role in determining the identity of a person who may be involved in a crime. Due to the invisible characteristic of latent fingerprints, exploring efficient techniques to visualize them (especially the ones resided on metallic surfaces) while retain the biological and chemical information (e.g., touch DNA) has become a multidisciplinary research focus. Herein we reported a new and highly sensitive electrochemical interfacial strategy of simultaneously developing and enhancing latent fingerprints on stainless steel based on synchronous electrodeposition and electrochromism of manganese oxides in a neutral aqueous electrolyte. By utilizing a specially designed device for electrochemical testing and image capture, a series of electrochemical measurements, physical characterization and image analysis have been applied to evaluate the feasibility, development accuracy and enhancement efficacy of the proposed electrochemical system. The qualitative and quantitative analysis on the in situ and ex situ fingerprint images indicates that the three levels of fingerprint features can be precisely developed and effectively enhanced. Forensic DNA typing has also been performed to reveal actual impact of the proposed electrochemical system on subsequent analysis of touch DNA in fingerprint residues. The ratio of detected loci after electrochemical treatment reaches up to 98.5 %, showing non-destructive nature of this fingerprint development and enhancement technique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chuanjun Yuan
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China; Research Center of Crime Governance in the New Era, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China.
| | - Ming Li
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China; Research Center of Crime Governance in the New Era, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China
| | - Meng Wang
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China; Research Center of Crime Governance in the New Era, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China
| | - Jiaming Lv
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China
| | - Yifei Sun
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China
| | - Tianyi Lu
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China
| | - Yuxin Jia
- College of Forensic Sciences, Criminal Investigation Police University of China, Shenyang, 110035, China
| | - Haijun Cao
- Huadu District Branch, Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, Guangzhou, 510810, China
| | - Tianchun Lin
- Huadu District Branch, Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, Guangzhou, 510810, China
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Chen H, Tian L, Sun X, Liu L, Ma R, Zhang M. Alkaline Phosphatase for Estimating the Time since Deposition of Blood Fingerprints by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy. Anal Chem 2023; 95:18470-18478. [PMID: 38051701 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c03692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/07/2023]
Abstract
Blood is one of the most frequent and valuable traces encountered at crime scenes, where knowing the time since deposition (TSD) of bloodstains tremendously assists forensic experts to screen out crime-related evidence and aids in the reconstruction of the event sequence. Although increasing proof-of-concept methodologies for investigating the TSD of bloodstains have been reported, there is still no accepted strategy in forensic practice as the aging mechanism involves complex components, leading to the inaccuracy of the estimation results. Herein, an endogenous biomarker of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) was chosen to investigate the TSD by scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). Results demonstrate that the ALP activity acquired via SECM lateral scan assay exhibited a clear decrease over time, and a similar trend was observed on both poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane and glass, with the aging kinetics on PVDF membrane being faster than glass. By means of quantitatively calculating the flux of generated p-aminophenol (PAP), we established the aging curve and realized the TSD estimation of blood fingerprints (BFPs) that was unable to be distinguished via optical measurements. Intriguingly, the as-obtained estimation accuracy ranged from 74.6 to 93.7%, proving the possibility of using an ALP biomarker and SECM. More appealingly, the predicted TSDs were capable of accurately differentiating the deposition sequence of overlapping BFPs, which was hardly achieved by optical means. Therefore, this proof-of-concept strategy demonstrates the value of SECM as a forensic tool and opens possibilities for revealing multidimensional information about crime.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongyu Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Lu Tian
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Xiangyu Sun
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Lu Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China
| | - Rongliang Ma
- Ministry of Public Security, Institute of Forensic Science, Beijing 100038, China
| | - Meiqin Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China
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Zhou H, Chen H, Ma R, Li X, Du X, Zhang M. Use of conductive Ti2O3 nanoparticles for optical and electrochemical imaging of latent fingerprints on various substrates. J Electroanal Chem (Lausanne) 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jelechem.2023.117387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
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Liu L, Chen H, Tian L, Sun X, Zhang M. Physical visualization and squalene-based scanning electrochemical microscopy imaging of latent fingerprints on PVDF membrane. Analyst 2023; 148:1032-1040. [PMID: 36723182 DOI: 10.1039/d2an01940j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Fingerprints have long been the gold standard for personal identification in forensic science. However, realizing the high-resolution enhancement of eccrine LFPs is difficult using the traditional methods and the label-free detection of fingerprint residue information is also challenging. Herein, we propose two enhancement strategies for LFPs on PVDF membrane (LFPs/PVDF) using blue-black ink staining and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). The blue-black ink staining method was used for the first time to develop three types (sebaceous, natural and eccrine) of LFPs/PVDF based on the difference in wettability between the fingerprint residues and PVDF membrane. The enhanced fingerprints clearly displayed levels 1-3 features with high contrast and low background interference. Furthermore, we achieved chemical imaging of the LFP/PVDF samples, where their possible visualization mechanisms were ascribed to the electrochemical reactivity of squalene and difference in wettability between the LFP and PVDF membrane, which was first proposed and investigated by SECM imaging and water contact angle (WCA) measurements, respectively. Significantly, SECM imaging not only provided fingerprint patterns without any labelling but also revealed the spatial distribution information of squalene in LFPs simultaneously. In addition, it was also demonstrated that LFPs deposited on various surfaces were first successfully transferred to the PVDF membrane, and then further developed with both methods, making them general for personal identity-related applications. Taken together, the blue-black ink staining method can easily and quickly obtain level 3 features of LFPs/PVDF and the SECM approach can non-invasively image the topography and chemical information of LFPs/PVDF, and thus they can be potentially selected according to various requirements in forensic scenarios.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Liu
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Hongyu Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Lu Tian
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Xiangyu Sun
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
| | - Meiqin Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
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Chen H, Tian L, Sun X, Ma R, Zhang M. New Horizons for Estimating the Time Since Deposition of Fingermarks: Combining Label-Free Physical Visualization and Electrochemical Characterization. Anal Chem 2023; 95:889-897. [PMID: 36537841 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c03427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The time since deposition (TSD) of latent fingermarks (LFMs) serves as "witnesses" for crime scene reconstructions. Nevertheless, existing TSD prediction approaches focused on either physical or chemical aging parameters leading to inaccurate estimation. A novel label-free protocol has been developed, where both physical ridge patterns and lipid oxide (LipOx) degradation kinetics are realized using optical microscopy and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and combined for TSD prediction. Specifically, the surface interrogation (SI)-SECM titration was utilized to monitor the LipOx degradation in LFM arrays aligned by hole array masks, through which we derived the LipOx degradation function. After establishing the relationship between several titration parameters and titrated area by experimental and numerical simulation methods, the titrated area could be reasonably estimated and subsequently used to calculate the surface coverage of LipOx. Results demonstrated that the tip transient revealed the LipOx coverage of deposited LFMs. Notably, LipOx coverage was found to increase during the first day and then decrease over time, whose degradation rate was susceptible to light. Thus, TSD candidates of an LFM could be limited to two values through the established function. Due to the nonmonotonic trend of LipOx aging, a physical parameter "the gray value ratio (GVR) of furrows to ridges" was proposed to exclude irrelevant TSD through support vector machine (SVM) classification. Ultimately, we predicted TSDs of seven LFMs with estimation errors of 2.2-26.8%. Overall, our strategy, with the outperformed capability of gleaning physical and electrochemical information on LFMs, can provide a truly label-free way of studying LFMs and hold great promise for multidimensional fingerprint information analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongyu Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
| | - Lu Tian
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
| | - Xiangyu Sun
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
| | - Rongliang Ma
- Ministry of Public Security, Institute of Forensic Science, Beijing100038, China
| | - Meiqin Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
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Chen H, Kong X, Wang D, Zhang M. Flexible Disk Ultramicroelectrode for High-Resolution and Substrate-Tolerable Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Imaging. Anal Chem 2022; 94:17320-17327. [PMID: 36448925 DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.2c04465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
A simple and universal strategy for fabricating flexible 25 μm platinum (Pt) disk ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs) was proposed, where a pulled borosilicate glass micropipette acted as a mold for shaping the flexible tip with flexible epoxy resin. The whole preparation procedure was highly efficient, enabling 10 or more probes to be manually fabricated within 10 h. Intriguingly, this technique permits an adjustable RG ratio, tip length, and stiffness, which could be tuned according to varying experimental demands. Besides, the electroactive area of the probe could be exposed and made renewable with a thin blade, allowing its reuse in multiple experiments. The flexibility characterization was then employed to optimize the resin/hardener mass ratio of epoxy resin and the tip position during HF etching in the fabrication process, suggesting that more hardener, a larger RG value, or a longer tip length obtained stronger deformation resistance. Subsequently, the as-prepared probe was examined by optical microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and SECM approach curves. The results demonstrated the probe possessed good geometry with a small RG ratio of less than 3 and exceptional electrochemical properties, and its insulating sheath remained undeformed after blade cutting. Owing to the tip's flexibility, it could be operated in contactless mode with an extremely low working distance and even in contact mode scanning to achieve high spatial resolution and high sensitivity while guaranteeing that the tip and samples would suffer minimal damage if the tip crashed. Finally, the flexible probe was successfully employed in three scanning scenarios where tilted and 3D structured PDMS microchips, a latent fingerprint deposited on the stiff copper sheet, and soft egg white were included. In all, the flexible probe encompasses the advantages of traditional disk UMEs and circumvents their principal drawbacks of tip crash and causing sample scratches, which is thus more compatible with large specimens of 3D structured, stiff, or even soft topography.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hongyu Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
| | - Xiangyi Kong
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
| | - Dongrui Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
| | - Meiqin Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology, School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, 30 Xueyuan Road, Beijing100083, China
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Abstract
The blood fingerprint enhancement is not so eye-catching as latent fingerprint development in forensic community, but it is indeed an important piece of evidence for personal identification, forensic analysis and even reconstruction of crime scenes. In over past ten years, novel reagents, advanced materials and emerging techniques have growingly participated in blood fingerprint enhancement, which not only leads to a higher level of developing sensitivity, selectivity and contrast, but also endows blood impressions with more forensic significance. This review summarizes recent advances in conventional chemical reagents targeting at heme, protein and amino acid as well as emerging enhancement techniques based on advanced materials, new equipment or methods. Some critical issues in forensic science are also discussed, including partial blood fingerprint enhancement, false positive of developing reagents, the compatibility of blood enhancement technique and DNA, fingerprint age determination, and so on. Finally, we have proposed several urgent problems to be solved and the prospects of some promising techniques were proposed in the field of blood fingerprint enhancement in future work.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zimin Zhang
- Chongqing Institutes of Higher Education Key Forensic Science Laboratory, Criminal Investigation School, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China
| | - Di Peng
- Chongqing Institutes of Higher Education Key Forensic Science Laboratory, Criminal Investigation School, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China
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Tian L, Chen H, Ma R, Zhang M. Estimating Time since Deposition of Bloodstains by Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy. ChemElectroChem 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/celc.202200434] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lu Tian
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering University of Science and Technology Beijing 30 Xueyuan Road Beijing 100083 P.R. China
| | - Hongyu Chen
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering University of Science and Technology Beijing 30 Xueyuan Road Beijing 100083 P.R. China
| | - Rongliang Ma
- Institute of Forensic Science Ministry of Public Security
| | - Meiqin Zhang
- Beijing Key Laboratory for Bioengineering and Sensing Technology School of Chemistry and Biological Engineering University of Science and Technology Beijing 30 Xueyuan Road Beijing 100083 P.R. China
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A critical review of fundamentals and applications of electrochemical development and imaging of latent fingerprints. Electrochim Acta 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.electacta.2021.138798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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