Solid state reaction preparation of BaMg2Si4O10F2:Eu3+ synthetic-mica phosphor for latent fingerprint identification

Synthetic-mica materials have shown multifunctional performances due to their distinctive adhesion and cation exchange ability. In this work, a novel Eu3+-doped synthetic-mica named as barium tetrasilicate fluorphlogopite (BaMg2Si4O10F2) phosphor was prepared by the high-temperature solid state reaction process for the first time. The as-prepared mica samples possess a distinct lamellar structure, as indexed by X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy means. The photoluminescence results manifest that the phosphor can generate bright red emission at 614 nm corresponding to the characteristic 5D0→7F2 transition of Eu3+ as excited with UV light, and the luminescence intensity is nearly 9-fold in comparison with that in original fluorphlogopite. The more fantastic result is that the emission intensity at 373 K still retains 95 % in respect to that at ambient temperature, demonstrating the phosphor system with excellent optical thermal stability. The optimal BaMg2Si4O10F2:8%Eu3+ phosphor powder has been used to discern the latent fingerprints on the surface of diverse non-porous and semi-porous substrates, which reveal the superior visibility as irradiated with 254 nm UV light. The Eu3+-doped BaMg2Si4O10F2 synthetic-mica is a promising phosphor material for latent fingerprint identification application.