Physicochemical and Spectroscopic Characterization of Biofield Treated Triphenyl Phosphate

Triphenyl phosphate (TPP) is a triester of phosphoric acid and phenol. It is commonly used as a fire-retarding agent and plasticizer for nitrocellulose and cellulose acetate. The present study was an attempt to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on physicochemical and spectroscopic properties of TPP. The study was carried out in two groups i.e. control and treatment. The treatment group was subjected to Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment. The control and treated samples of TPP were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. XRD study revealed the decrease in crystallite size (6.13%) of treated TPP that might be due to presence of strains and increase in atomic displacement from their ideal lattice positions as compared to control sample. DSC thermogram of treated TPP showed the increase in melting temperature (1.5%) and latent heat of fusion (66.34%) with respect to control. TGA analysis showed the loss in weight by 66.79% in control and 47.96% in treated sample. This reduction in percent weight loss suggests the increase of thermal stability in treated sample as compared to control. FT-IR and UV spectroscopic results did not show the alteration in the wavenumber and wavelength of FT-IR and UV spectra, respectively in treated TPP with respect to control. Altogether, the XRD and DSC/TGA results suggest that biofield treatment has the impact on physical and thermal properties of treated TPP.

In conclusion, the XRD diffractogram of biofield treated TPP showed the alteration in intensity of XRD peaks and decreased crystallite size (6.13%) as compared to control. The thermal analysis (DSC, TGA/DTG) showed a slight increase in melting temperature and Tmax. However, the latent heat of fusion was significantly increased (66.34%) in treated sample as compared to control. The spectroscopic analysis (FT-IR and UV-Vis) showed that biofield treatment did not affect the structural properties of treated sample as compared to control.

Based on XRD, DSC, TGA/DTG analysis, it is concluded that biofield treatment has the impact on physicochemical characteristics of treated TPP with respect to control. The increase in latent heat of fusion, reduction in % weight loss, and increase in Tmax of treated TPP suggests the increase in thermal stability as compared to control, which could be beneficial for it application in thermal safety of lithium-ion batteries.