Characterization of Physical, Thermal and Structural Properties of Chromium (VI) Oxide Powder: Impact of Biofield Treatment

Chromium (VI) oxide (CrO3) has gained extensive attention due to its versatile physical and chemical properties. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on physical, thermal and structural properties of CrO3 powder. In this study, CrO3 powder was divided into two parts i.e. control and treatment. Control part was remained as untreated and treated part received Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment. Subsequently, control and treated CrO3 samples were characterized using Thermo gravimetric analysis-differential thermal analysis (TGA-DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). DTA showed that the melting point of treated CrO3 was increased upto 212.65°C (T3) as compared to 201.43°C in control. In addition, the latent heat of fusion was reduced upto 51.70% in treated CrO3 as compared to control. TGA showed the maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax) around 330°C, was increased upto 340.12°C in treated CrO3 sample. XRD data revealed that lattice parameter and unit cell volume of treated CrO3 samples were reduced by 0.25 and 0.92% respectively, whereas density was increased by 0.93% in treated CrO3 sample as compared to control. The crystallite size of treated CrO3 was increased from 46.77 nm (control) to 60.13 nm after biofield treatment. FT-IR spectra showed the absorption peaks corresponding to Cr=O at 906 and 944 cm-1 in control, which were increased to 919 and 949 cm¬1 in treated CrO3 after biofield treatment. Overall, these results suggest that biofield treatment has substantially altered the physical, thermal and structural properties of CrO3 powder.

The thermal analysis of CrO3 using TGA-DTA revealed that biofield treatment has altered the melting point, ?H, and Tmax. The melting point was increased upto 5.57% in treated CrO3, whereas ?H was reduced upto 51.70% in treated as compared to control. It is assumed that biofield treatment probably altered the internal energy of treated CrO3 samples, which may lead to alter the melting point and ?H. In addition, Tmax was slightly increased up to 3.077% as compared to control. Besides, XRD data exhibited the alteration in lattice parameter, unit cell volume, density, and molecular weight in treated CrO3 as compared to control. The crystallite size of treated CrO3 sample was increased by 28.57% as compared to control. It may be due to movement of crystallite boundaries through biofield energy, which probably transferred via biofield treatment. FT-IR spectra revealed that the absorption peaks were shifted from 906 and 944 cm-1 (control) to higher wavenumber i.e. 919 and 949 cm-1 in treated CrO3 sample. It could be due to increase of bond force constant of Cr=O bond after biofield treatment. Overall, study results suggest that biofield treatment has significantly altered the thermal, physical and structural properties of CrO3 powder. It is also assumed that biofield treated CrO3 could be useful for chrome plating applications in automobile industries.