The spectrofluorometer (Jasco FP-6500) measures the fluorescence emitted by samples. Such information can be used to determine the concentration of a particular analyte. The spectrofluorometer has been used in Independent Study (CHM 500/501) to analyze the effect that different excitation wavelengths have on nanoparticles to ultimately determine the optical band gap, a property important in their eventual application in solar cells. Another project involving the spectrofluorometer focused on the deposition of proteins on artificial cells through use of fluorescent antibody markers. The instrument was also used in Physical Chemistry (CHM 360) to determine the binding constant for the complexation of bilirubin to bovine serum albumin.
