Quick identification of ink in often needed when examining documents. Ink is a unique mixture of solvents, polymer matrices, and dyes. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a rapid separation technique that generates little organic waste. It is highly capable of separating complex ink mixtures with components of different molecular sizes. The mock ink samples were extracted using the environmentally friendly surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) combined with 50mM sodium borate buffer. The different types of ink were extracted with mechanical agitation. A micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) was used to separate dye and gel molecules by coating the ink polymers with negative charges. UV-Vis spectroscopy was used to analyze ink components based on their absorbance profiles. A library of ink electropherograms is being compiled to serve as a database for ink identification. With the combination of inspecting extraction patterns, UV-Vis and CE molecular fingerprints, ink samples are being rapidly and successfully identified.

Rapid ink typing with capillary electrophoresis and UV-Vis spectroscopy

245th National Meeting (2013)

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