A Giant Fluoride-Bridged Rare-Earth Cluster with Moderate Hydrophobicity and Bright Luminescence Develops High-Resolution Latent Fingerprints
Abstract
Visualization of latent fingerprints (LFPs) at high resolution plays a vital role in crime scene investigation. The key to obtain high resolution image of LFPs is to design a developer that has strong contact with LFPs and bright luminescence. Since LFPs comprise both hydrophilic components (e.g., inorganic salts and water from sweat) and hydrophobic components (e.g., fatty acids and squalene from sebum) designing luminescent materials with appropriate hydrophobicity holds significant importance. Here we show that a family of fluoride-bridged rare-earth (RE) clusters with a common formula of [RE 26 (µ 3 -F) 40 (µ-F) 4 (µ 6 -F)(piv) 31 (H 2 O) 8 (cyclen) 2 (DCA) 2 ]·DMF (abbr. REFC-26, RE = Nd, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy and Er) can achieve this goal. REFC-26 has not only the largest nuclearity among air-stable fluoride-bridged RE clusters known to date, but also both hydrophobic and hydrophilic functional groups on the surface. Coupled with the excellent luminescent properties of EuFC-26 and TbFC-26, these clusters effectively suppress background interference, yielding high-contrast and high-resolution fingerprint images. The resolution reaches a precise identification of level 1-3 features that range from macroscopic ridges to microscopic sweat pores even after the LFPs are aged for 30 days. Such a remarkable performance outperforms most LFP developers and may open a new photographic developer design based on luminescent RE clusters.
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BibTeX
@misc{wang2026giant,
title = {{A Giant Fluoride-Bridged Rare-Earth Cluster with Moderate Hydrophobicity and Bright Luminescence Develops High-Resolution Latent Fingerprints}},
author = {Yu Wang and Jian-Yue He and Sai-Sai Xie and Jing-Mei Wu and Xia-Li Ding and Wei-Peng Chen and Qian-Cheng Luo and Yuan-Qi Zhai and Yan-Zhen Zheng},
howpublished = {ChemRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.26434/chemrxiv.15009779/v1},
url = {https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009779/v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A Giant Fluoride-Bridged Rare-Earth Cluster with Moderate Hydrophobicity and Bright Luminescence Develops High-Resolution Latent Fingerprints
AU - Yu Wang
AU - Jian-Yue He
AU - Sai-Sai Xie
AU - Jing-Mei Wu
AU - Xia-Li Ding
AU - Wei-Peng Chen
AU - Qian-Cheng Luo
AU - Yuan-Qi Zhai
AU - Yan-Zhen Zheng
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/02
PB - ChemRxiv
DO - 10.26434/chemrxiv.15009779/v1
UR - https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009779/v1
AB - Visualization of latent fingerprints (LFPs) at high resolution plays a vital role in crime scene investigation. The key to obtain high resolution image of LFPs is to design a developer that has strong contact with LFPs and bright luminescence. Since LFPs comprise both hydrophilic components (e.g., inorganic salts and water from sweat) and hydrophobic components (e.g., fatty acids and squalene from sebum) designing luminescent materials with appropriate hydrophobicity holds significant importance. Here we show that a family of fluoride-bridged rare-earth (RE) clusters with a common formula of [RE 26 (µ 3 -F) 40 (µ-F) 4 (µ 6 -F)(piv) 31 (H 2 O) 8 (cyclen) 2 (DCA) 2 ]·DMF (abbr. REFC-26, RE = Nd, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy and Er) can achieve this goal. REFC-26 has not only the largest nuclearity among air-stable fluoride-bridged RE clusters known to date, but also both hydrophobic and hydrophilic functional groups on the surface. Coupled with the excellent luminescent properties of EuFC-26 and TbFC-26, these clusters effectively suppress background interference, yielding high-contrast and high-resolution fingerprint images. The resolution reaches a precise identification of level 1-3 features that range from macroscopic ridges to microscopic sweat pores even after the LFPs are aged for 30 days. Such a remarkable performance outperforms most LFP developers and may open a new photographic developer design based on luminescent RE clusters.
ER -