A simple correction method of inner filter effects affecting FEEM and its application to the PARAFAC decomposition

Abstract In this paper we introduce a new inner filters correction method for standard fluorometer. The Controlled Dilution Approach (CDA) deals with highly absorbing solutions using the Fluorescent Excitation–Emission Matrix of a controlled weak dilution. Along with the nonlinear FEEM of the original solution, these information allow to estimate the linearized FEEM. The method relies on inner filter effects modelization. Beyond its numerical simplicity, the main interest is that CDA only requires fluorescence measurements. The method was validated using a set of known mixtures and a set of dissolved organic matter samples. In addition we show that the corrected FEEM can be used efficiently for advanced multilinear analysis. Therefore CDA is presented here as a relevant pretreatment to the PARAFAC decomposition of highly absorbing mixtures.