Visible-near infrared diffuse reflectance (vis-NIR) spectroscopy is a fast, nondestructive technique well suited for analyses of some of the essential constituents of the soil. These constituents, mainly clay minerals, organic matter and soil water strongly affect conditions for plant growth and influence plant nutrition. Here we describe the process by which vis-NIR spectroscopy can be used to...

The first demonstration that near infrared (NIR) light can be used to monitor the state of cortical tissues noninvasively through the skull was presented by Jobsis in 1977 [53]. About a decade later, researchers started looking at the potential use of NIR spectroscopy for functional brain activity monitoring. Early studies began with simple motor and sensory tasks demonstrating the feasibility ...

While cellulosic and lignocellulosic materials have been studied using conventional Raman spectroscopy, availability of near-infrared (NIR) Fourier transform (FT) Raman instrumentation has made studying these materials much more convenient.1 This is especially true because the problem of laser-induced fluorescence can be avoided or minimized in FT-Raman (NIR Raman) spectroscopy. More recently, ...

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is a common means of non-invasively determining the concentrations of organic compounds in relatively transparent aqueous solutions. Rigorous determination for limit of detection (LOD) is of importance for the application use of NIR spectroscopy. The work reported herein determined the LOD with the analysis of potassium hydrogen phthalate (KHP) in water with par...

A method for the synthesis of electroactive polymers is demonstrated, starting with the synthesis of extended conjugation monomers using a three-step process that finishes with Negishi coupling. Negishi coupling is a cross-coupling process in which a chemical precursor is first lithiated, followed by transmetallation with ZnCl2. The resultant organozinc compound can be coupled to a dibrominated...

Structurally defined, long (>100 nm), and low-band-gap (∼1.2 eV) graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) were synthesized through a bottom-up approach, enabling GNRs with a broad absorption spanning into the near-infrared (NIR) region. The chemical identity of GNRs was validated by IR, Raman, solid-state NMR, and UV-vis-NIR absorption spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy revealed well-ordered self-assembl...

Near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technique serves as an important tool for the measurement of moisture content of skin owing to the advantages it has over the other techniques. The purpose of the study is to develop a correlation between NIR spectrometer with electrical conventional techniques for skin moisture measurement. A non-invasive measurement of moisture content of skin was performed on...

Polymer nanocomposites are usually characterized using various methods, such as small angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) or transmission electron microscopy, to gain insights into the morphology of the material. The disadvantages of these common characterization methods are that they are expensive and time consuming in terms of sample preparation and testing. In this work, near infrared spectroscopy...

Farmers are increasingly demanding rapid, cost-effective, easy-to-use and non-destructive methods for monitoring changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of crops and plants from the early stages of crop development until harvest. Remote and proximal sensor tools have been used recently to monitor different aspects of cereal production (e.g., fertilization, crop diseases). Most of t...

Near-infrared (NIR) absorbing nanomaterials, built from anionic heptamethine cyanine dyes and single-walled carbon nanotubes or few-layer graphene, are presented. The covalent linkage, using 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, results in nanoconjugates that synchronize the properties of both materials, as demonstrated by an in-depth characterization study carried out by transmission electron m...