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An accurate, precise, and affordable light emitting diode spectrophotometer for drinking water and other testing with limited resources
Open accessAbstract
Spectrophotometers are commonly used to measure the concentrations of a wide variety of analytes in drinking water and other matrixes; however, many laboratories with limited resources cannot afford to buy these very useful instruments. To meet this need, an accurate, precise, and affordable light emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer was designed and built using best engineering practices and modern circuit design. The cost and performance of this LED spectrophotometer was compared against 4 common commercial spectrophotometers. More specifically, the performance of these spectrophotometers was evaluated from the upper limits of linear range, upper limits of operational range, calibration sensitivities, R2 values, precisions of standards, estimated limits of detection, and percent calibration check standard recoveries for the determinations of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and fluoride (F-) in drinking water. This evaluation was done in the United States (U.S.) and India. Our LED spectrophotometer costs $63 United States Dollars (USD) for parts. The 4 commercial spectrophotometers ranged in cost from $2,424 to $7,644 USD. There are no practical differences in the upper limits of linear range, upper limits of operational range, R2 values, precisions of standards, and estimated limits of detection for our LED spectrophotometer and the 4 commercial spectrophotometers. For 2 of the 3 analytes, there is a practical difference in the calibration sensitivities our LED spectrophotometer and the 4 commercial spectrophotometers. More specifically, the calibration sensitivities for Mn and F- using our LED spectrophotometer were 65.2% and 67.0% of those using the 4 commercial spectrophotometers, respectively. In conclusion, this paper describes the design, use, and performance of an accurate, precise, and extremely affordable LED spectrophotometer for drinking water and other testing with limited resources.
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![Fig 8 The calibration results for the determination of total iron (Fe) by the 1,10-phenanthroline method using a Hach DR-2700, a Hach 2010, and a Thermal Electron Spectronic 20D+ spectrophotometer [36].](/paper-figures/2094b4f4a5044fe3a68d2c0e9845bbee/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-8.jpg)
![Fig 9 The calibration results for the determination of total iron (Fe) by the 1,10-phenanthroline method using light emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer #1 at blank voltages (V0) = 4.364 V, 3.872 V, 3.364 V, and 2.842 V [36].](/paper-figures/5270e8f8df604cc9a53f0a8e9cb51131/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-9.jpg)
![Fig 10 The calibration results for the determination of total iron (Fe) by the 1,10-phenanthroline method using light emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer #2 at blank voltages (V0) = 4.364 V, 3.872 V, 3.366 V, and 2.846 V [36].](/paper-figures/b105ff7fcca04ecba75f9278941c60b2/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-10.jpg)
![Fig 11 The calibration results for the determination of total manganese (Mn) by the 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) method using a Hach DR-2700, a Hach 2010, and a Thermal Electron Spectronic 20D+ spectrophotometer [37].](/paper-figures/2588b0a4e90b4dc5b67cb5600d2dc57f/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-11.jpg)
![Fig 12 The calibration results for the determination of total manganese (Mn) by the 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) method using light emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer #1 at blank voltages (V0) = 1.989 V, 1.553 V, 1.011 V, and 0.529 V [37].](/paper-figures/efaad3f0e68741af8e295d422c933ba8/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-12.jpg)
![Fig 13 The calibration results for the determination of total fluoride (F−) by the sodium 2-(parasulfophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphthalene disulfonate (SPADNS) method using an Agilent Technologies Cary 60 UV-Vis (ultraviolet-visible) absorption spectrophotometer [36].](/paper-figures/56dfabda422c4fb5b71eb0aeea224783/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-13.jpg)
![Fig 14 The calibration results for the determination of total fluoride (F−) by the sodium 2-(parasulfophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphthalene disulfonate (SPADNS) method using light emitting diode (LED) spectrophotometer #1 at blank voltages (V0) = 0.358 V, 0.407 V, 0.486 V, 0.525 V, 0.550 V, and 0.627 V [36].](/paper-figures/846443d092db40e39e7ad426b8e741fb/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-14.jpg)
![Fig 16 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Hach DR-2700 and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total iron (Fe) by the 1,10-phenanthroline method [36].](/paper-figures/5e663d7f60784c4083b14f6b4a6cff82/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-16.jpg)
![Fig 17 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Hach 2010 and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total iron (Fe) by the 1,10-phenanthroline method [36].](/paper-figures/82c9ba70f43c47849ad17bdee3cc631d/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-17.jpg)
![Fig 18 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Thermal Electron Spectronic 20D+ and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total iron (Fe) by the 1,10-phenanthroline method [36].](/paper-figures/1b6f9505abf24a0c93d6a1f4cf31f100/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-18.jpg)
![Fig 19 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Hach DR-2700 and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total manganese (Mn) by the Hach 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) method [37].](/paper-figures/ed68fa6bb3be4874bca91192eed85222/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-19.jpg)
![Fig 20 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Hach 2010 and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total manganese (Mn) by the Hach 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) method [37].](/paper-figures/b5799b152a1a4898bc05593037ce7ca2/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-20.jpg)
![Fig 21 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Thermal Electron Spectronic 20D+ and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total manganese (Mn) by the Hach 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) method [37].](/paper-figures/b3f0227fd22c4fccb138b56fae7ec001/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-21.jpg)
![Fig 22 Bland-Altman plot comparing the Agilent Technologies Cary 60 UV-Vis and LED spectrophotometer #1 for the determination of total fluoride (F−) by the sodium 2-(parasulfophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxy-3,6-naphthalene disulfonate (SPADNS) method [36].](/paper-figures/7dda4e819c724226b8e19687bb8b7b35/an-accurate-precise-and-affordable-light-emitting-diode-spectrophotometer-for-figure-22.jpg)
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Metadata
- Authors
- Prairie, M. W., Frisbie, S. H., Rao, K. K., Saksri, A. H., Parbat, S., & Mitchell, E. J.
- Affiliations
- Norwich University (US)
- Indian Institute of Science Bangalore (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Frisbie, Seth H.
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2020-01-29
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e0226761
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6988917
- OpenAlex
- W3003391244
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 6
- FWCI
- 2.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- NOT FOUND REPOSITORY (Indian Institute of Science Bangalore) (acceptedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Ministry of Education, India
- Division of Human Resource Development
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Waste Management and Disposal › Water Quality Monitoring and Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biosensors and Analytical Detection
- Physical Sciences › Chemistry › Analytical Chemistry › Analytical Chemistry and Sensors
- Keywords
- low-cost instrumentation, drinking water analysis, iron determination, manganese determination, fluoride determination, calibration sensitivity, detection limit, low-resource laboratories
- MeSH terms
- Calibration, Fluorides, Humans, Iron, Light, Manganese, Spectrophotometry, Drinking Water
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