How to correct inner filter effects altering 3D fluorescence spectra by using a mirrored cell

• We present a correction method of inner filter effects affecting fluorescence EEM.
• Using a new IFE model taking into account multiple reflections into a mirrored cell
• It requires neither sample modification, nor dilution, nor absorption measurement.
• We give 3 estimators of the linearized EEM and a procedure to choose the best one.
• Method is presented and evaluated as an effective pretreatment of PARAFAC analysis.

In this paper we present a new correction method of inner filter effects that occurs when measuring fluorescence Excitation–Emission Matrices (EEM) of concentrated solutions. While traditional method requires absorption measurement or sample dilution(s), the Mirrored Cell Approach (MCA) only requires two different EEM of the considered sample: a first one using a traditional cell and a second one using a mirrored cell. The mathematical relationship between both models is originally exploited to obtain a simple numerical correction. Method is validated using a set of known mixtures. In addition we show that advanced multilinear analysis can be efficiently applied on to the corrected EEM.