Coronene diimide-based 'bowl' nanostructures as red emitters for the analysis of latent fingerprints and metal ion detection.

We report an NIR-based photoluminescent material, namely benzo-coronene diimide (CDI 2), and its use in the visualization of latent fingerprints (LFPs) and in the metal ion detection in an aqueous medium. CDI 2 exhibited nano-sized interlinked fibre structures forming 'bowl' shaped nanoarchitectures as red emitters with the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates (, ) of (0.67, 0.33) with 100% colour purity in the solid state. CDI 2 was confirmed to be the potential candidate for the analysis of LFPs and the detection of Pd/Cu in an aqueous medium.