Characterization of Physical, Thermal and Spectral Properties of Biofield Treated O-Aminophenol

What is it about?

O-aminophenol has extensive uses as a conducting material and in electrochemical devices. The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of biofield energy treatment on the physical thermal and spectral properties of o-aminophenol. The study was performed in two groups; the control group was remained as untreated, while the treated group was subjected to Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment. Subsequently, the control and treated o-aminophenol samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), surface area analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and Ultra violet-visible spectroscopy analysis (UV-vis). The XRD analysis showed an increase in peak intensity of the treated o-aminophenol with respect to the control. Additionally, the crystallite size of the treated o-aminophenol was increased by 34.51% with respect to the control sample. DSC analysis showed a slight increase in the melting temperature of the treated sample as compared to the control. However, a significant increase in the latent heat of fusion was observed in the treated o-aminophenol by 162.24% with respect to the control. TGA analysis showed an increase in the maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax) in treated o-aminophenol (178.17ºC) with respect to the control (175ºC). It may be inferred that the thermal stability of o-aminophenol increased after the biofield treatment. The surface area analysis using BET showed a substantial decrease in the surface area of the treated sample by 47.1% as compared to the control. The FT-IR analysis showed no changes in the absorption peaks of the treated sample with respect to the control. UV-visible analysis showed alteration in the absorption peaks i.e. 211→203 nm and 271→244 nm of the treated o-aminophenol as compared to the control. Overall, the results showed that the biofield treatment caused an alteration in the physical, thermal and spectral properties of the treated o-aminophenol.

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Why is it important?

Conducting materials have received significant scientific and technological interest in recent years. Aniline based compounds and polymers have grabbed special attention as a base material for the synthesis of conducting devices [1]. Aminophenol based compounds are especially interesting as electrochemical materials since, unlike anilines [2] and other derivatives [3], they have two groups (-NH2 and –OH) which can be oxidized. Hence, they show excellent electrochemical nature similar to anilines [3,4] and phenols [5,6]. Recently, 4-aminophenol was utilized as the material for fabricating electrochemical immunosensor and electrode for determining the amount of aminophenol present in water and pharmaceuticals [7]. Mascaro et al. synthesized poly aniline/o-aminophenol copolymer in a chloride medium and proposed that it could be used for polymer-based light emitting diodes [8]. Tucceri reported that in o-aminophenol, the presence of an electron donating –OH group next to imine nitrogen increases the electron density at imine sites. Additionally, the –OH itself is a potential coordinating site, which could be utilized for fabricating stable electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction [9]. However, lower thermal and environmental stability of organic materials hampers their uses as conducting materials [10,11]. Hence, some alternative strategy should be designed in order to improve the stability and thermal resistance of conducting organic materials. Recently, biofield treatment was used as a strategy to alter the physicochemical properties of metals [12,13], ceramics [14] and organic product [15]. Hence, after considering the above-mentioned properties of o-aminophenol, authors planned to investigate the impact of biofield treatment on physical, thermal and spectral properties of o-aminophenol. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), a part of the National Institute of Health (NIH), recommends the use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) therapies as an alternative to the healthcare sector and about 36% of Americans regularly uses some form of CAM [16]. CAM includes numerous energy-healing therapies; biofield therapy is a type of putative energy medicine used in the holistic medicine medical system and is being used worldwide to improve the overall health and well-being of humans. Researchers have experimentally demonstrated the presence of an electromagnetic field around the human body using well-known medical technologies such as electromyography, electrocardiography, and the electroencephalogram [17]. Additionally, it also showed that bioelectricity generated from the heart, brain functions or due to the motion of charged particles such as protons, electrons, and ions in the human body [18]. Thus, the human body emits electromagnetic waves in the form of bio-photons, which surrounds the body, i.e., commonly known as a biofield. Therefore, a human has the ability to harness the energy from the environment/Universe and then transmit it to any object (living or non-living) around the globe. The object(s) always receive the energy and respond into a useful way. This energy is called biofield energy, and this process is referred to as biofield treatment. Mr. Trivedi’s unique biofield energy treatment is also known as The Trivedi Effect®. This biofield treatment is known to alter the characteristics of many living organisms and nonliving materials in various research fields such as agriculture research [19,20] and biotechnology research [21]. Biofield treatment has shown excellent results in improving the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, alteration of biochemical reactions, as well as induced alterations in the characteristics of pathogenic microbes [22,23]. Exposure to biofield treatment caused paramount increase in the medicinal property, growth, and anatomical characteristics of ashwagandha [24]. Moreover, biofield treatment has been used as an excellent strategy for the modification of spectral properties of various pharmaceutical drugs like paracetamol and piroxicam [25]. After considering the above-mentioned excellent results obtained through biofield treatments, this work was undertaken to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on the physical, thermal and spectral properties of o-aminophenol.

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