Multirole 3D-Printed Modular Spectrometer for Various Teaching Spectral Experiments in the Classroom and at Home

Chemical instrumentation is complex and expensive. When an instrument becomes nonfunctional, its pedagogical value remains despite its inability to make measurements. This work presents a laboratory experiment which gives new purpose to old optical spectrometers while building knowledge and confidence of students in their understanding of chemical instrumentation. Students are given a guided tour of spectroscopic instruments, starting from the simplest, and are asked to identify components and draw the optical path of each instrument. Allowing students to look inside of decommissioned instruments gives students a chance to see the differences and similarities of optical spectrometers while reinforcing the form and function of the spectroscopic components that they learned about in class.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turning Trash into Treasure: Using Old Optical Spectrometers as Learning Tools in Instrumental Analysis

Overway

2024

Transforming Pixels into Spectra: The Educational Journey of Recycling an Old Optical System

Carvalho,

Bottini,

de Lira Faria

2024

The academic community increasingly embraces the possibilities offered by the Maker movement, with a notable rise in the creation of homemade instruments, particularly in the field of spectroscopy. These instruments are being leveraged to enhance engagement in classes and educational projects. Most of these homemade instruments designed for educational purposes rely on simplified 3Dprinted components and/or adapted materials, such as compact discs used as diffraction gratings. This article proposes yet another solution by recycling an optical system from an old liquid chromatograph decommissioned due to obsolete communication protocols. The entire instrument's optical system is used, and the original photodiode array (PDA) was replaced by a modern PDA that could be easily controlled by Arduino and a user interface developed for this intent. A flowchart illustrating the interface operations related to absorbance calculations is presented, followed by a discussion on how the shape of the acquired spectra may be influenced by positioning of the sensor. The raw data obtained in this work can also be utilized to teach concepts related to dark current, baseline correction, instrument calibration, and absorbance. The visible spectra of several substances from the resultant instrument are presented and compared with those of a commercial benchtop spectrophotometer. The approach described here can inspire the recovery and recycling of other outdated instruments, providing opportunities to explore and teach both the physical and computational aspects of chemical instrumentation.

A 3D-Printed Smartphone-Based Fluorescence Spectrometer: A Universal Design for Do-It-Yourself Experiments in Education

Pap,

Stratton

2024

Developing portable, cost-effective analytical tools is crucial to expose students to advanced spectrometric systems in the undergraduate curriculum. Numerous Do-It-Yourself (DIY) systems and smartphone-based fluorescence spectrometers have been developed over the last few decades. These systems can be specific to one particular cell phone or require unique configurations that are relatively difficult to implement in classroom or laboratory settings due to a diverse pool of students' owned cell phones. This work presents the design and validation of a cell-phone-based fluorescence spectrometer (FluoroBox). The system presented herein can be attached to any cell phone and adopted in classroom, online, hybrid, and laboratory settings, thus creating a versatile and universal system for adoption. The 3D-printed unit only requires a student's smartphone camera, a blue laser, a cuvette, a diffraction grating, and batteries. FloroBox's performance is validated through the qualitative analysis of edible oils. This study demonstrates the assembly, acquisition, and data processing compared with a conventional benchtop fluorescence spectrometer. By employing easily exchangeable units such as slits, excitation sources, and other elements, the device can detect fluorescence emissions from various fluorophores. This unit provides students with hands-on experience in fluorescence spectroscopy across multiple learning environments. The compact design, ease of use, and integration with mobile technology underline its potential for widespread adoption, particularly in resource-limited settings.