Phys. Rev. E 65, 061913 (2002) [7 pages]Hydration dynamics of human fingernails: An ellipsometric studySee Also: Publisher's Note Received 28 February 2002; published 25 June 2002; publisher error corrected 2 July 2002 We use spectroscopic ellipsometry to obtain the complex refractive index, ñ=n+ik, of human fingernails. By studying the change of ñ upon hydration and dehydration, we reveal three different time domains with typical time constants of 4, 150, and 3200 min. A simple model that takes into account the presence of one fast and one slow process is fully consistent with the observed hydration and dehydration dynamics. We attribute these processes to “free” water incorporated between the keratin filaments and water more tightly “bound” in keratin complexes, respectively. From our model we determine the hydration profiles of “free” and “bound” water during, both, hydration and dehydration. © 2002 The American Physical Society URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.061913
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevE.65.061913
PACS:
87.15.He, 07.60.Fs, 87.64.Aa, 87.64.Ni
See AlsoPublisher's Note: B. Schulz, D. Chan, J. Bäckström, M. Rübhausen, K. P. Wittern, S. Wessel, R. Wepf, and S. Williams, Publisher’s Note: Hydration dynamics of human fingernails: An ellipsometric study [Phys. Rev. E 65, 061913 (2002)], Phys. Rev. E 66, 029901 (2002). |
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