Substrate contributions in micro-ATR of thin samples: Implications for analysis of cells, tissue and biological fluids

Low-e microscope slides are a common substrate for biological samples. Typically they are used for transaction infrared microspectroscopy but increasingly they are also being used for micro-ATR experiments since it is assumed that the FTIR-ATR absorbance spectra of cells and tissue on low-e substrates will not contain any spectral contributions from the substrate materials. This, in part, is due to the expectation that all the infrared light will be reflected at the highly reflective surface. At low sample thicknesses, however (e.g. less than 2 nm) the electric field does indeed penetrate through the substrate layers and undergoes absorption, from the glass supporting layer making up the majority of the slide. In this paper we show experimental evidence of the substrate contributions in ATR spectra and also a theoretical model giving insight into the spectral contributions of the substrate as a function of sample thickness. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2013.