Ablative analysis of black and colored toners using LA-ICP-TOF-MS for the forensic discrimination of photocopy and printer toners

Photocopy and printer toners were analyzed using ICP-TOF-MS (inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry) with laser ablation (LA). Isotopic analysis of black and colored toners allows identification and discrimination of covering materials from different producers. The results of 201 samples of black toners were analyzed according to the following chemometric methods: cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA). In addition, 23 samples of colored toners were tested. Chemometric manipulation of the elemental mass spectra obtained using the 'Fingerprinting OptiMass 9500' program showed an effective system for the rapid comparative analysis of unknown samples. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.