Sonochemically assisted hollow/solid BaTiO3:Dy3+ microspheres and their applications in effective detection of latent fingerprints and lip prints

Nanostructured materials find potential benefits for surface-based science such as latent fingerprints (LFPs) and lip print detection on porous and non-porous surfaces. To encounter the drawbacks viz. low sensitivity, high background hindrance, complicated procedure and high toxicity associated with traditional fluorescent powders were resolved by using hollow/solid BaTiO3:Dy3+ (1–5 mol %) microspheres. The visualization of LFPs stained by the optimized BaTiO3:Dy3+ (2 mol %) hollow/solid microspheres exhibits well-defined ridge patterns with high sensitivity, low background hindrance, high efficiency and low toxicity on various surfaces. The powder X-ray diffraction results revealed the body centered cubic phase of the prepared samples. The emission spectra exhibit intensive peaks at ∼480, 575, and 637 nm, which were attributed to transitions 4F9/2→6HJ (J = 15/2, 13/2, 11/2) of Dy3+ ions, respectively. Surface morphologies were extensively studied with different sonication times and concentrations of the used barbituric acid. The Commission International De I-Eclairage (CIE) and Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) analyses revealed that the present phosphor is highly useful for the fabrication of white light emitting diodes. •BaTiO3:Dy3+ hollow/solid microspheres fabricated using modified sonochemical method.•Powder was used as labeling agent to visualize latent fingerprint and lips prints.•Surface morphologies were tuned with sonication time and concentration of surfactant.•Compounds were useful for fabrication of near ultraviolet white light emitting diodes.