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Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers

Spectrophotometry is a fundamental technique in many areas of science, with many applications and uses. The cost of spectrophotometers has acted as a barrier on the teaching and use of the technique. Here, we provide open-source plans to a 3D-printed cuvette holder with an interchangeable narrow–spe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pereira, Vasco Ribeiro, Hosker, Bill Stephen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6590830/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31188818
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000321
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author Pereira, Vasco Ribeiro
Hosker, Bill Stephen
author_facet Pereira, Vasco Ribeiro
Hosker, Bill Stephen
author_sort Pereira, Vasco Ribeiro
collection PubMed
description Spectrophotometry is a fundamental technique in many areas of science, with many applications and uses. The cost of spectrophotometers has acted as a barrier on the teaching and use of the technique. Here, we provide open-source plans to a 3D-printed cuvette holder with an interchangeable narrow–spectral bandwidth light-emitting diode (LED) block that can be used in conjunction with a smartphone’s ambient light sensor (ALS) to perform spectrophotometry. A Lego version with an interchangeable LED block is also presented. Results from the smartphone spectrophotometer in comparison with commercially available spectrophotometers demonstrated functionality, and the model may have many applications, especially in indirect spectrophotometry, such as in the protein assay shown here. The plans for the 3D-printed model are freely available on GitHub, as are editable files to allow customisation by users. We would encourage users to share adaptations with the scientific community.
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spelling pubmed-65908302019-07-05 Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers Pereira, Vasco Ribeiro Hosker, Bill Stephen PLoS Biol Community Page Spectrophotometry is a fundamental technique in many areas of science, with many applications and uses. The cost of spectrophotometers has acted as a barrier on the teaching and use of the technique. Here, we provide open-source plans to a 3D-printed cuvette holder with an interchangeable narrow–spectral bandwidth light-emitting diode (LED) block that can be used in conjunction with a smartphone’s ambient light sensor (ALS) to perform spectrophotometry. A Lego version with an interchangeable LED block is also presented. Results from the smartphone spectrophotometer in comparison with commercially available spectrophotometers demonstrated functionality, and the model may have many applications, especially in indirect spectrophotometry, such as in the protein assay shown here. The plans for the 3D-printed model are freely available on GitHub, as are editable files to allow customisation by users. We would encourage users to share adaptations with the scientific community. Public Library of Science 2019-06-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6590830/ /pubmed/31188818 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000321 Text en © 2019 Pereira, Hosker http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Community Page
Pereira, Vasco Ribeiro
Hosker, Bill Stephen
Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
title Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
title_full Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
title_fullStr Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
title_full_unstemmed Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
title_short Low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
title_sort low-cost (<€5), open-source, potential alternative to commercial spectrophotometers
topic Community Page
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6590830/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31188818
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3000321
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