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The world of cuvettes may be a vast and complicated place. How do you determine which spectrophotometer to buy when there are so many on the market and so many varied cuvette manufacturers?
The good news is that we’re going to make your life a lot simpler for you. We’ve put up a list of the Top 8 Cuvette Features to Look For. This list is based on the most frequently asked questions by our clients.
Do I need a cuvette for spectrophotometer or fluorimeter?
So, when it comes to selecting a cuvette, this is the most essential question. The answer to this question will determine the number of polished sides you’ll require (optically transparent).
Spectrophotometers employ transparent cuvettes with two parallel sides. As a result, the light beam enters via the front window and departs through the back window in a single line.
Our spectrophotometer cuvettes may be found here.
For fluorescence measurements, fluorometers employ cuvettes with three or four transparent sides.
Our fluorometer cuvettes may be found here.
How to choose the material?
The material you choose is essential since it influences the variety of applications you may utilize the cuvette for. The price is also influenced by the type of material used.
A quartz cell is significantly more expensive than an optical glass cell, but it has a far wider transmission range.
Our materials and their transmission ranges are shown below:
- G – Optical Glass – 350 – 2,000 nm
- Q – UV Quartz – 190 – 2,500 nm
- I – IR Quartz – 260 – 3,500 nm
What cuvette path length to choose?
Cuvettes are available in a wide range of path lengths. Customers most commonly pick a lightpath of 10 mm.
We have lightpaths ranging from 0.01 mm to 100 mm, ensuring that any experiment is catered for.
What’s the most used cuvette shape?
Cuvettes are available in a variety of forms and sizes. A rectangular cuvette with a 1-100 mm path length, such as our standard cuvettes, is the industry standard size cuvettes that are used by 90% of our clients.
For clients who have a cylindrical cell holder for their machine, we also provide cylindrical cuvettes.
What type of covers to choose from?
Covers for cuvettes are available in a range of designs. This is an application-specific feature, and we have a list of our basic cuvette covers below:
- PTFE Cover – This is simply a cover that goes over the cell. This cuvette isn’t designed for investigations that require an airtight container.
- PTFE Stopper – This is for those who want a more secure seal than a standard cover can provide. The cuvette may be flipped upside down or shook to assist mix the contents, and the PTFE cap allows for airtight measures.
- Screw Cap – The finest seal is provided by screw caps. This style of cuvette may be used for anaerobic work and other airtight tests thanks to our Septum screw covers.
- Specialty – We can custom-build any sort of closure for your purpose.
How to choose the volume?
The path length you select has a significant impact on volume. In most cases, the greater the lightpath, the larger the cell capacity.
We do, however, make cuvettes with smaller capacities and lightpaths ranging from 1 mm to 100 mm. These cells are for users who wish to communicate their sample and have a fixed path length.
Cotslab offers the following volume sizes:
- Macro Cuvettes
- Semi-Micro Cuvettes
- Micro Cuvettes
- Sub-Micro Cuvettes
- Ultra Micro Cuvettes, It’s ideal for preserving biological DNA.
Should I consider the Z dimension?
The Z-Dimension (ZD), also known as the machine’s center height, is the height at which the light beam enters the cuvette.
The ZD is not an issue for most cuvettes, but when purchasing a sub-micro cell, make sure you obtain the right Z-Dimension otherwise the cell will not operate.
The Z-Dimensions of your machine will be one of the following:
- 8.5 mm
- 15 mm
- 20 mm
Is cell matching important?
Cell matching is the process of matching two or more cuvettes together. This provides researchers with the assurance that the cuvettes they are utilizing will not provide results that differ from cuvette to cuvette.
Cuvettes are matched to within 2% of each other upon request to guarantee maximum reproducibility without extra charge.
How fast is your delivery?
I know it seems funny, but that’s probably the most often requested question we get. It’s also significant since individuals want to do their tests as quickly as feasible.
The good news is that we keep 95 percent of our online inventory in stock and ready to ship.
As a result, we are able to dispatch your products 1-3 days we receive them, and shipment by DHL takes about 3-5 days.
If you have any further questions or require assistance, please contact us and let us know how we can assist you.
