Effect of carrier solvent in 1,2-indanedione formulation on the development of fingermarks on porous substrates

Abstract

As an important technique for the detection of fingermarks on porous surfaces, 1,2-indanedione is widely used due to its excellent detection performance. In order to optimize the effectiveness of 1,2-indanedione, several institutions have modified the original formulation. In this study, four different 1,2-indanedione formulations were used to treat fingermarks deposited on different porous substrates to determine the most suitable formulation and whether Solstice-PF can be an alternative carrier solvent for the currently used HFE7100. It was found that the Solstice-PF-based formulation performed similarly to the HFE7100-based formulation on copy paper, but when treating fingermarks deposited on brown paper and newspaper, Solstice-PF was superior to HFE7100 by developing up to 10% more marks graded 3 and 4 regardless of the ageing period. The results confirm that Solstice-PF can be used as an alternative carrier solvent for 1,2-indanedione formulations with good detection rates and lower costs.