Application of Infrared Photoacoustic Spectroscopy in Soil Analysis

Soil analysis has become routine work for soil management and crop production. However, laboratory analysis-based determination of soil properties is expensive and time consuming, which is not suitable for precision agriculture. Infrared spectroscopy (IR) appears as an alternative and fast technique to measure soil properties and has had wide application; in particular, a new method called infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS) has been applied in soil analysis. The soil infrared photoacoustic spectrum is more convenient to record; the spectra contain more useful information versus conventional reflectance spectroscopy, and it appears promising for identification of soil types and measure soil properties. The step-scan function of FTIR-PAS makes it possible to explore the soil microstructure in situ; furthermore, more sensible photoacoustic cells (PA), such as a quartz-enhanced PA cell, will make FTIR-PAS a strong tool for the study of soil science. The application of infrared photoacoutic spectroscopy in soil analysis is largely dependent on spectra pretreatment and chemometrics methods due to strong interferences, and more mathematical tools models will benefit or optimize the prediction performance. To make full use of soil infrared spectra, soil spectra library construction is required in the future, which will play an important role in the application of soil analysis.