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Exercise 8 15/07/2020

Investigating the UV-Vis absorbance of sunscreens

1. UV Spectra of Sunscreens

Table 1. Absorbance and UV-spectrum for five different sunscreens.

Sunscreen First Absorbance Second Absorbance at Third Absorbance

peak, nm at first peak peak, nm second peak peak, nm at third peak
BronZinc SPF 30+. 308.00 0.447 278.00 0.704
Cancer Council 348.00 0.139 305.00 0.272 273.00 0.614
Everyday
Sunscreen SPF 30+
Cancer Council 307.00 0.639 273.00 0.842
Ultra Sunscreen
SPF 50+
Reef Dark Sun Tan 310.00 0.968 226.00 0.575
Oil
Reef Sun Tan Oil 308.00 1.081 288.00 1.153
SPF 15

Rate all the sunscreens on their ability to provide protection against UVA and UVB.

There are three subtypes of ultraviolet radiation based on their wavelength: UVA (400 nm–315 nm),
UVB (315 nm–280 nm), UVC (280 nm–100 nm). UVB radiation is the most harmful type of ultraviolet
radiation.

The concentrations of all the sunscreen were not the same; therefore, we cannot make the
conclusions based on the absorption numbers only. There is a need to look at the shapes of the
spectrum.

All five sunscreens have peaks in UVB range meaning they are protecting in this region. However,
BronZink SPF 30+, Reef Sun Tan Oil SPF 15 and Reef Dark Sun Tan Oil do not protect all of the UVA
range (Table 1).

Does the tanning oil provide any protection from the sun?

Reef Sun Tan Oil SPF 15 and Reef Dark Sun Tan Oil are not broad-spectrum sunscreens meaning they
do not give protection in the UVA range; therefore, they are not recommended to use.

2. Concentration dependence
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Table 2. Absorption for three sunscreens of different concentration levels for different wavelength
peaks.

Reef Sun Tan Oil SPF 15 BronZinc SPF 30+ Cancer Council Everyday
Sunscreen SPF 30
Wavelength, nm Wavelength, nm Wavelength, nm
Concentration, % 308 288 309 226 307 236
Absorbance
100% 0.382 0.357 0.349 0.259 0.151 0.282
50% 0.286 0.261 0.245 0.179 0.105 0.183
25% 0.187 0.176 0.179 0.133 0.075 0.129
12.5% 0.144 0.122 0.123 0.081 0.051 0.082
6.25% 0.097 0.072 0.085 0.054 0.037 0.048

0.16

0.14

0.12

0.1
ABSORBANCE

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CONCENTRATION, %

Figure 1. The interdependence between concentration and absorbance for Reef Sun Tan Oil SPF 15
sunscreen for the peak at a wavelength of 308 nm.
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0.16

0.14

0.12
ABSORBANCE

0.1

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CONCENTRATION

Figure 2. The interdependence between concentration and absorbance for BronZinc SPF 30+
sunscreen for the peak at a wavelength of 309 nm.

0.16

0.14

0.12

0.1
ABSORBANCE

0.08

0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
CONCENTRATION

Figure 3. The interdependence between concentration and absorbance for Cancer Council Everyday
Sunscreen SPF 30 sunscreen for the peak at a wavelength of 307 nm.

How does your graph agree with the Beer-Lambert law?

According to the Beer-Lambert law, the graph of concentration versus absorbance should look like
the straight line going from the origin with the slope of ε*l (or just ε as l is usually equal to 1). For all
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three sunscreens we observe that the points on the graphs do not precisely follow the straight line
from the origin (Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3). As expected by the law, the absorbance is increasing
with increasing concentration, but not all the points fall on the line of best fit. On the one hand,
Beer-Lambert law does not work for high and low concentrations numbers. On the other hand, the
concentration units are mol/L, not the percentages as in our experiment.

How does this relate to the practicalities of use of commercial sunscreens?

Beer-Lambert law does not work for high concentrations numbers; therefore, the protection from
UV radiation is increasing up to a certain level of concentration. After this level is reached, we would
not observe any significant improvement in the protection. Consequently, there is no need for
sunscreen in excessive amounts.

Moreover, if there is a large amount of water in the sunscreen, it will be less effective as low
concentration follows by low absorption levels.

3. Investigations using UV-Vis spectrophotometry

3.1. The case of the serial killer

The graph for the killer’s sunscreen has peaks in wavelengths of 226 nm and 310 nm and the graph
look similar to the graph of Reef Dark Sun Tan Oil. Subsequently, the suspect used Reef Dark Sun Tan
Oil and Billy has to be the murderer.

3.2. Eye protection

What glasses provide protection for UVA, UVB and UVC?

Silica glasses are the least effective ones with the almost flat line for all spectrum. Plastic glasses and
sunglasses protect all UVA, UVB and UVC range from 190 nm to 400 nm. Glass provides protection in
UVC and UVB range, but do not give protection for UVA radiation.