Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR):FAST

▼Western University's Free Appropriate Sustainability Technology (FAST) Research Group

Wanted! Students to make a distributed future with solar-powered open-source 3-D printing and recycling. Contact Dr. Joshua Pearce - Apply here
Home · Projects & Publications · Methods · Literature reviews · People · Sponsors · News · Free Software · Twitter/X · YouTube · LinkedIn · Github · For kids!

• Dr. Pearce Safety Lab Tour
• Worker Health & Safety Awareness
• WHMIS 2015 - Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System
• Laboratory Safety & Hazardous Waste Management

PPE is to keep YOU safe so that you can keep doing what you want to do.

1. Safety glasses – always required
2. Gloves - if worked with hazardous material

Knowing what chemicals are in the lab and how they interact with each other is critical when accidents happen.

1. Appropriate SDS sheets should be viewed online.
2. Note the hazards listed on the door to the lab. If you introduce any new equipment or materials you must clear them with the responsible person listed on the lab door. If the responsible person is out of date, contact the departmental administrators to get it updated.

1. Room #, ICFAR
2. PerkinElmer Inc.
3. 501 Rowntree Dairy Road, Woodbridge, ON L4L 8H1, Canada Phone: (905)-850-6889
4. PerkinElmer FT-IR Frontier Spectrometer

• Contact Dr. Pearce for computer password
• No spectra between 400-600 (this is the fingerprint region)
• Minimum 16 scans - if possible 32

1. Turn the machine on with the switch on the back
2. Open PerkinElmer spectrum software on the computer
3. Go to File -> New
4. Clean Probe with methanol and a kimwipe
5. Blank machine by pressing the Background button
   • if using liquid sample cover probe and bed in aluminum foil and clean with methanol (take blank after probe is covered)
6. Place sample under probe
7. Twirl probe down until tight
8. Press Scan
9. Force gauge should be between 85-95
   • To decrease noise on the scan increase scans or tighten
10. Press the Interferogram button, there should be a single peak in middle
11. Press Scan button
12. Once you have first scan, press Absorbance and then press Auto Y
13. If you want a baseline correction, press Baseline correction and right click to remove
14. To smoothen the noise, press Smooth (around 60)
15. For publishing you can normalize all the data to a specific point by pressing Normalize
    • To get rid of any curve that you made: right click on the the name of the curve and press Remove Curve
16. To get the data off of the program, go to File, Export (it exports data as a .csv file)
17. You need a hard drive to get the data off of the computer because it is not connected to a network

1. Turn the machine off with the switch in the back
2. Lock the computer