Tag Archives: DIY spectrophotometer


Bluetooth enabled portable spectrometer

Spectrometers are widely used in scientific studies to characterize the spectral signature of a material that represents how the matter interacts with an electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths. The spectral data contains vital information like the chemical composition and crystal structure of the material, as well as the presence of any impurities or third element within it. A commercial spectrometer costs a huge amount of money. Akshat Wahi‘s WiSci is an open-source spectrometer tool intended to allow spectroscopy accessible to everyone.

DIY Bluetooth spectrometer

DIY Bluetooth spectrometer

With Hamamatsu’s C12666MA mini-spectrometer at the front end, WiSc collects spectral signature from a target in wavelengths ranging from 340 to 780 nm. The hardware setup includes an Arduino board to read measurements from C12666MA and a HC-05 Bluetooth module for sending the data to the Android device. The android application was developed using Android Studio IDE and is compatible with Android 2.3.3 and higher. WiSc has been successfully implemented for non-destructive testing of apple ripeness. to extract the spectral data from  for non-destructive testing of fruit ripeness and the results were found consistent with that from a penetrometer.

DIY Spectrophotometer

Spectrophotometers are used in scientific studies to quantitatively measure the absorption spectra of a sample object by passing a beam of light through it. [doctek] is a contestant for Hackaday Prize 2016 and his entry for the contest is a DIY Spectrophotometer using Teensy.

DIY Spectrophotometer

DIY Spectrophotometer

Building on some good work by others (https://publiclab.org/wiki/spectrometer andhttp://myspectral.com/ among others), this spectrophotometer has it’s own bright light (White LED), and uses a lock-in amp and photodiode as a sensitive detector. A Teensy 3.1 is used as the controller and the interface to transfer data to a pc for further analysis. The LED is a high power white one chosen for it’s broad light spectrum. The driver can be programmed (via a resistor) for varying power levels and the unit can be rapidly switched on and off for use with the lock-in amp. A piece from a DVD mounted on a servo motor creates the light spectrum that is moved past a slit, shines on the sample cuvette, and then on the photodiode.