Computer screen photo-assisted spectral fingerprinting of luminescent polythiophene pH reporter

The capability of the computer screen photo-assisted technique (CSPT) for the spectral fingerprinting of a photoactive polythiophene derivative (POWT), used as a pH reporter, is demonstrated. POWT is part of a family of industrial scalable materials, well established for organic electronics and biomedical applications, which is used here to demonstrate the capability of CSPT for tracing key spectral features. The ability of CSPT for substance classification, corroborated by principal component analysis (PCA), successfully compares to standard spectroscopy, especially considering the involved equipment: CSPT is only a computer set and a Web camera.