Production application: Quality control report template for absorbance, particle size and concentration of Titanium Dioxide based on UV-Vis spectra from SpectroWorks™

 

Challenge: We wish to analyse large quantities of titanium dioxide to ensure the samples are within desired ranges of absorbance, particle size and concentration.

Solution: This intuitive easy-to-use Jupyter notebook can process hundreds of samples of titanium dioxide in seconds and return pass/fail results for the desired values of absorbance, particle size and concentrations.

Titanium dioxide is has a variety of uses in both industry and research. It is a white, insoluble solid and is particularly useful as a pigment in both paints, food colourings, cosmetics and sunscreen. Its use as a pigment is largely due to its brightness and high refractive index, it is used in two-thirds of all pigments worldwide.

For use in sunscreens, titanium dioxide nanoparticles are used. They are not absorbed into your skin and the bright surface reflects incoming sun, allowing for protection against UVB and UVA rays. With sufficiently small particle sizes, there is minimal white appearance on the skin. However, if the size of the particles becomes too small, the effectiveness against UVA rays is decreased.

This easy to use interactive Jupyter notebook allows for the quick analysis of important characteristics of titanium dioxide: its absorbance, concentration, and particle size.

The following is an example of the usage of the notebook using one sample of titanium dioxide. The Jupyter notebook is designed to support the quality control analysis of many samples simultaneously.

 

Figure 1: A spectrum for a sample of Titanium Dioxide as calculated using the NanoCuvette S™ and the SpectroWorks™ software.

 

Description: Calculate the absorption within a given wavelength and test if it is above a minimum absorption.

Parameters: Enter your wavelength bounds in nanometers and the minimum absorption in order for the sample to pass.

 

 

Result: The absorption is calculated and a Pass / Fail result is produced.

Test B: Particle Size of TiO2 

 

Figure 2: A graph showing the distribution of particle number and particle diameter as calculated using the NanoCuvette S™ and the SpectroWorks™ software.

 

Description: Calculate the diameter of the particle in nm IF enough particles found within bounds of size, otherwise give NaN.

Parameters: Enter the expected diameter of TiO2 and the tolerance in nanometers.

 

 

Result: The diameter of the particles are calculated and a Pass / Fail result is produced.

Test C: Percentage of particles of TiO2 with given size

Description: Calculate the number of particles within the desired diameter range (set above) as a percentage of total particles and test if above a minimum percentage.

Parameters: Enter the minimum percentage of particle concentration within size bounds relative to the total concentration (%).

Result: The number of particles as a percentage of total particles are calculated and a Pass / Fail result is produced.

 

Test D: Concentration of TiO2

Description: Calculate the total concentration of TiO2 in the sample and test if it is within the bounds of desired concentration.

Parameters: Enter the total volume in cm3 for the sample:

Result: The total concentration is calculated and a Pass / Fail result is produced.

 

 

SpectroWorks™ for UV-Vis spectra and NanoCuvette™ analysis comes with API access. Whether you're a student, a scientist or a technician, Colab notebooks and SpectroWorks™ can make your work around UV-Vis spectrophotometers easier and faster.