Experimental setup
Our photoacoustic calorimeter follows the design of Griller and co-workers (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1986, 108, 2218). It can be divided into four subsets of instruments converging on a standard absorbance cell (the calorimetric cell CC). The first set is used to initiate the photophysical process in the cell; the second allows the detection and measurement of the photoacoustic signal thus produced; the third is used to measure the solution transmittance and the fourth to monitor its temperature. A flow line conducts the solutions throughout the system, from a temperature-controlled reservoir. The calorimeter can operate under inert atmosphere conditions and experiments can be made in the absence of ambient light, if necessary.
Figure 1. A general view of our PAC setup.