Before Christmas, Santa Claus is tasked with creating a list of everyone who’s been naughty or nice to determine their holiday bounty. This year, Santa partners with the SpectraWizard and StellarNet Team and uses spectroscopy to help him determine the truth of whether you have been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake! Please enjoy our Naughty or Nice Spectroscopy Applications and holiday story.
A StellarNet Holiday Story
“It was the weeks before Christmas and all through the lab, not a creature was stirring, not even a crab.
The StellarLab stations were earnestly cleaned, and it was finally go-time for the SpectraWizard and the team.
The Raman spectrometers and lasers were ready to shed; some answers to which some of us may dread
What will the SpectraWizard find using a handheld device? – are these samples indeed naughty or nice?
Santa has asked his dear old friend the SpectraWizard to help him use spectroscopy to determine if Johnny, Molly, Polly, and Ronnie were on the naughty or nice list.
Coal or Graphene?
In Johnny’s case, Santa found a mysterious black powder substance all over Johnny’s desk. Johnny has been on the naughty list a few times, and Santa was taking no chances. While there are many dark powders that can seem harmless, there are also just as many that can be quite dangerous such as gunpowder or coal. Utilizing the HYPER-Nova 532nm Raman system, the team took measurements of the unknown sample. After reviewing the spectra and comparing it to our database, the SpectraWizard declared that little Johnny had been a previously naughty boy, but this year he was just interested in graphene!
NIR Spectroscopy of Coal
Near-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) is a fast and convenient tool for analytical quantitative measurement; and it has become a popular option for online and portable coal property analysis. Organic molecules have much stronger NIR absorption than inorganic molecules. Therefore, better analysis accuracy can be achieved for organic properties of coal such as volatile matter and fixed carbon compared to ash and sulfur.
Raman Spectroscopy of Graphene
The Raman spectrum of Graphene and related materials is fairly simple, consisting of just a few typical bands. Analyzing the position and shape of these Raman bands can tell us quite a lot about the carbon material’s properties. Below, you can see a typical Graphene sample showing D, G, and the 2D bands.
The Raman spectra of Graphite and a Graphene Oxide are very similar as we would expect since graphite is composed of multilayer Graphene. The three main bands in the Graphene spectrum are known as the D-band at ~1350 cm-1, the G-band at ~1582 cm-1 and the 2D band at ~2685 cm-1. In Graphite the D band is usually very weak and G band is much sharper. A comparison of Graphene, Graphite, and Graphene Oxide Raman spectra can be seen below as well as their molecular structures.
Plastic Recycling with NIR Spectroscopy
The investigation into Polly is a bit different. Polly has prided herself on being an environmentalist and is always begging her peers to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Plastic recycling is a hot topic in our world today. Many municipalities across the nation have different standards and methods of attempting to recycle plastic. With plastic, it is important to properly separate incoming products when recycling because different plastics are handled and recycled differently. You can’t have PET and HDPE in the same recycling line! Santa wanted to make sure Polly was teaching her peers the correct way of separating plastics for recycling, so the SpectraWizard was given her recycling bin to make sure everything was correctly sorted. After testing the numerous items with our ChemWiz-ADK, the SpectraWizard declared that Polly was on the nice list! She’d been correctly sorting her recycling 🙂
Learn more about the ChemWiz-ADK Handheld NIR spectrometer here.
Water Pollution Detection with UV-VIS Spectroscopy
The probe into Ronnie’s status of “naughty or nice” let the SpectraWizard really work his spectroscopy magic! Ronnie had been on the naughty list before, and this year it seemed he was set to be on the nice list. Instead of being a schoolyard bully, this year Ronnie had taken up gardening. Santa was a bit confused by such a major change and was hopeful that Ronnie had turned a new leaf – he seemed to be very good at gardening and even won a few prizes at the state fair for his crop. The waterways near Ronnie’s home had major algae issues with ever-increasing activity and Santa was afraid that perhaps Ronnie was using too much fertilizer and polluting the environment. The SpectraWizard was able to test the water samples and found that Ronnie had been naughty. He had been using way too much chemical fertilizers in his garden, and the water runoff had polluted his local waterways! Santa kept Ronnie on the naughty list, for another year in a row.
Learn more about the ChemWiz Handheld UV-VIS spectrophotometer for water quality analysis here.
Illicit Drug and Narcotics Detection with Raman
Lastly, the SpectraWizard and his team tested samples from Molly. Molly is a star cheerleader, is at the top of her class, and is peppy and well-liked among her classmates. Santa was snooping to make sure she should be placed on the nice list and he had found a mysterious white powder in her desk! Santa was quite worried about this, so the SpectraWizard used the StellarRAM handheld Raman system to test the samples quickly. The StellarRAM has a full library of items including narcotics, explosives, and common chemicals. After a thorough review of the spectra, the SpectraWizard told Santa that the results of the test were clear. Molly had been sneaking packets of sugar from her mother’s pantry!
Learn more about the StellarRAM Handheld Raman spectrometer for Illicit drugs detection here.
Santa thanked the SpectraWizard and the StellarNet team for all of their help this year to finalize the naughty and nice list. To celebrate – for a limited time with the purchase of a Raman system you’ll receive a stocking of Raman vials!
