Photometric measurements need clean cuvettes. Even throwaway plastic cuvettes aren’t cleaned. Reusable quartz or glass cuvettes must be cleaned to avoid cross-contamination.
Quartz cuvettes must be cleaned and reused.
Why Are Cuvettes Cleaned?
Imprecision, inaccuracy, low sensitivity, as well as contamination are all caused by residues from previous analyses. First and foremost, you will need to carry out the trials again.
Assists in the examination of the cuvette. In order to save time as well as samples, damaged or scratched cuvettes should be replaced.
Safety
During the cleaning process, you are needed to wear a lab coat, safety glasses, goggles, and nitrile gloves. A fume hood is required whenever hydrochloric acid is used.
Hazards
Using flammable solvents in a lab may cause a fire. Utilize these solvents into a fume hood to avoid inhalation.
Hydrochloric acid (HCL) can also burn and irritate. Wear gloves as well as a fume hood while handling solvents.
Cuvette Cleaning Procedures:
Cuvette type and residue must be known. Here are cuvette cleaning tips:
| Solution | Sample Type | Cuvette Cleaning Procedure |
| Aqueous | DNA, RNA, Protein Biologics | The cell is empty. Rinse with diluted acid after washing with warm water and detergent. Rinsed with filled water Rep 2-3 times more |
| Aqueous | Basic solutions | Warm water with detergent, An empty cell, Rinse with acid that has been diluted. Filled water rinse, Iterate two to three times. |
| Aqueous | Salt solution | To finish, rinse with warm water. Rinse with acidic, copious amounts of water. It should be repeated twice or thrice. |
| Organic | Alcohol solutions | In the fume hood, remove excess solvent, thoroughly rinse with water, and repeat two to three times. |
| Organic | Basic solutions | Maintain Operations in the Fume Hood, Cleanse with the solvent, then rinse with water in copious amounts, then dilute with acid. Repeat |
| Organic | Oil based | Maintain Operations in the Fume Hood, Cleanse with the solvent, then warm water with detergent, Dilute acid, Fill water rinse, Repeat 2-3 times |
| Organic | Acidic solutions | Within the fume hood, do the following steps: Rinse with solvent, then rinse with copious amounts of water, and do this a total of two to three times. |
| Fluorescencee | Before used, rinse the cuvettes in copious amounts of water and then clean them in 5 M nitric acid. |
Several ideas for making use of the cuvettes are as follows:
- Ensure that the cuvette is perfectly clean at all times. This ensures that the cuvette will continue to function properly for a very long time.
2. Never dry out your cuvettes. Maintaining a constant level of submersion into water or the solvent between usage can prevent them from becoming dry and sticky.
3. You should use a lens cleaning tissue or fine cloth to clean the optical surfaces of the lens. The vast majority of tissue papers are made from wood fibers.
4. When wiping off surfaces that have been polished, you should only use lens tissue or a lens towel. The great majority of paper tissues are constructed with wood fibers, which have the potential to scratch surfaces that are glossy.
5. Once the cuvettes have reached the desired level of dryness, they should be cleaned and maintained.
Definitions
| Dilute Acid | 2M HCl or Nitric acid (HNO3, 2M) |
| Acid | HCl, 5M or HNO3, 5M* |
| Solvent rinse | Do a last cleaning with the solvating chemical! |
| Copious water rinse | Rinse using water that has been deionized, distilled or processed using RO technology at least ten times the volume. |
| Detergent | When you have access to it, you should clean using a detergent that has a pH of 7 but remove any residue with dilute acid and purified water. |
Please keep in mind that
*5M Nitric acid (HNO3 ): Cuvettes with anti-reflection coatings or mirror coatings should not be utilized.
Ultrasound as a method of cleaning:
It is not suggested to use ultrasonic baths that include cuvettes.
It’s possible that the cuvette will crack if the bath works at the same frequency as it does. Ultrasonic cleaning of cuvettes is not covered by our warranty.