ABSTRACT
Microstructures in nature are ultrafine and ordered in biological roles, which have attracted material scientists. Spirulina forms three-dimensional helical microstructure, one of remarkable features in nature beyond our current processing technology such as lithography in terms of mass-productivity and structural multiplicity. Spirulina varies its diameter, helical pitch, and/or length against growing environment. This unique helix is suggestive of a tiny electromagnetic coil, if composed of electro-conductive metal, which brought us main concept of this work. Here, we describe the biotemplating process onto Spirulina surface to fabricate metal microcoils. Structural parameters of the microcoil can be controlled by the cultivation conditions of Spirulina template and also purely one-handed microcoil can be fabricated. A microcoil dispersion sheet exhibited optically active response attributed to structural resonance in terahertz-wave region.
Subject(s)
Electromagnetic Phenomena , Metals , Spirulina , Metals/chemistryABSTRACT
A single-laboratory validation study was conducted for a 2-wavelength spectrophotometric method for the determination of c-phycocyanin (cPC) and allophycocyanin (aPC) in Spirulina supplements and raw materials. The absorption maxima of cPC and aPC are at 620 and 650 nm, respectively. The concentrations of the analytes were calculated from measurement of absorbance at 2 wavelengths. This method provided linear responses for cPC and aPC in the range of 25-250 microg/mL. Duplicate determinations of cPC and aPC in 4 different test materials on 5 different days resulted in relative standard deviations of 0.3-1.0 and 1.0-1.5% for cPC and aPC, respectively. Recoveries were 99.2-102.4 and 100.0-104.0% for cPC and aPC, respectively. The results were satisfactory for the determination of cPC and aPC in Spirulina supplements.
