Detection and determination of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons by luminescence spectrometry utilising the Shpol'skii effect at 77 K. Part II. An evaluation of excitation sources, sample cells and detection systems

Abstract

A comparison has been made of the use of a xenon arc continuum source, a mercury-vapour lamp and a fixed-wavelength helium-cadmium laser source for excitation in the production of quasi-linear luminescence emission spectra of some polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons in n-alkane solvents at 77 K. The performance of a new design of cryostat sample cell for work at 77 K has been evaluated and compared with that of a commercially available Dewarflask sample cell. The use of d.c. integration, photon counting and of repetitive optical scanning in conjunction with a signal averager has been investigated for registration of the luminescence obtained from PAH compounds by use of the Shpol'skii effect.