Use of universal 3D-Printed smartphone spectrophotometer to develop a time-based analysis for hypochlorite

GARCIA, CARLOS D.; LORENZETTI, ANABELA S.; VIDAL, EZEQUIEL; DOMINI, CLAUDIA E.

ANALYTICA CHIMICA ACTA

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Año: 2021 vol. 1151 p. 1 - 8

0003-2670

A fully-functional smartphone-based spectrophotometer was designed and built using 3D printing. Themajor advantage of this approach is its capacity to be interfaced with a variety of smartphones, allowingthe use of the smartphone?s camera and display, and regardless of the relative position of the camera. Theanalytical performance of the device was analyzed using a model dye (crystal violet), leading to a proportionalresponse for concentrations in the 0.06e15.0 mg L1 range, with a variability of 1.0% (intra-day)and 2.6% (inter-day). To demonstrate the functionality of the device, the degradation process of the dyeby sodium hypochlorite was studied. The results obtained were applied to develop a paper-based test forNaClO in sanitation solutions, in which the time required to bleach the dye was used to estimate theconcentration of the solution. This device represents a simple and inexpensive tool for everyday laboratoryuse and could address important analytical challenges in low-income communities and features aversatile arrangement, that is compatible with a wide variety of smartphones and software platforms.