Storage and life of Ziatype solutions?

[Steve Goldstein]

I've been reading a bit about the Ziatype process of late but I don't recall seeing any discussion of the lifetime of the solutions. It would be convenient (read as - I have lots of these) to store the solutions in small LDPE squeeze bottles like those used for contact lens solution, but these aren't totally impermeable to oxygen. So my basic questions are:

- Is it ok to store solutions in LDPE, as opposed to glass?

- With either bottle type, are there lifetime issues associated with the various solutions?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Fraunhofer]

Typically, when you buy them, they come in little brown glass bottles and I leave them in there, since they also come with droppers which fit those bottles. LDPE is generally not great for chemical storage.

The noble metal solutions, Pd, Pt, Au remain stable for a years. The ferric oxalate, on the other hand, will remain stable for maybe 6 months (or a bit more). But since that's cheap, not a real problem.

Hope that helps.

 

[Steve Goldstein]

Thanks! I'm so used to scratch-mixing chemistry that it didn't occur to me that they'd come pre-mixed. The limited lifetime of ferric oxalate is good to know about.