Spectrophotometer Cell Cleaning

Starna Cells, Inc	Technical Assistance Document
Title	Care and cleaning of quartz and glass cells
Applies to	All quartz and glass cells

Why Clean Cells	Clean cells are the foundation of any spectrophotometric or fluorometric analysis. The residue from previous analysis will cause inaccuracies, low sensitivity and lack of precision. More important, it will waste your time! Also inspect the condition of the cells. If they are cracked, chipped or scratched it is important to replace the cells with new ones as your time is more valuable than the cost of new cells.
How to Clean Cells	It is important to determine the residual material in the cell that needs to be removed. The table below will give you some suggestions for cleaning:

Why Clean Cells

Clean cells are the foundation of any spectrophotometric or fluorometric analysis. The residue from previous analysis will cause inaccuracies, low sensitivity and lack of precision. More important, it will waste your time! Also inspect the condition of the cells. If they are cracked, chipped or scratched it is important to replace the cells with new ones as your time is more valuable than the cost of new cells.

How to Clean Cells

It is important to determine the residual material in the cell that needs to be removed. The table below will give you some suggestions for cleaning:

Solvent	Material	Suggested Cleaning Methods
Aqueous	Protein, DNA, Biologics	Warm water with detergent, Mild acid rinse, Copious water rinse
Aqueous	Salt solutions	Strong acid rinse, copious water rinse
Aqueous	Basic solutions	Warm water with detergent, Mild acid rinse, Copious water rinse
Organic	Oil based	Rinse with solvent, Warm water with detergent, Mild acid rinse, Copious water rinse
Organic	Alcohol solutions	Rinse with solvent, Copious water rinse
Organic	Acidic solutions	Rinse with solvent, Copious water rinse
Organic	Basic solutions	Rinse with solvent, Mild acid rinse, Copious water rinse

General Considerations	Keeping a cell clean while in use is the most important element of a long, useful life for a cell. During the day, never let your cells dry out. If you keep them in a water bath or solvent in between uses, the material that you are using will not have a chance to dry out and stick. Use only lens cleaning paper or fine cloth to wipe the optical surfaces as most paper products contain bits of wood fiber which will scratch the surfaces. At the end of the day, clean them well and store them in a suitable container after drying.
Definitions:

General Considerations

Keeping a cell clean while in use is the most important element of a long, useful life for a cell. During the day, never let your cells dry out. If you keep them in a water bath or solvent in between uses, the material that you are using will not have a chance to dry out and stick. Use only lens cleaning paper or fine cloth to wipe the optical surfaces as most paper products contain bits of wood fiber which will scratch the surfaces. At the end of the day, clean them well and store them in a suitable container after drying.

Definitions:

Mild Acid	Equalivent to 0.1N HCl
Strong Acid	Equalivent to 1 N HCl
Solvent rinse	Rinse with the solvent that solvated your sample in the first place!
Copious water rinse	Use a pure water like deionized, distilled or RO and rinse at least 10 times
Detergent	Use a neutral pH detergent if available but acid wash and water rinse to remove detergent residues

Ultrasonic Cleaners	We do not recommend the use of ultrasonic cleaning baths with cells. Each bath generates a different frequency and if your bath operates at the resonant frequency of a cell, the cell will break. We do not warranty our cells for cleaning in an ultrasonic cleaner.

How to contact Starna Cells, Inc
Company Name	Starna Cells, Inc
Mailing Address	PO Box 1919
	Atascadero, CA 93423 USA
Telephone	805-466-8855
Toll free	800-228-4482
Fax	805-461-1575
E-mail	sales@starnacells.com
World Wide Web	http://www.starnacells.com