Diatom
Lab has developed a new, innovative cement to seal the margin of the
cover glass in our Diatom and Radiolarian preparations for optical
microscopy.
In
fact, our proprietary high refractive index mountants harden very
well and have been shown not to deteriorate over the years, so the
sealing cement serves a more aesthetic than protective function
(note: if you prefer microscope slides without sealing cement, you
can always make a specific request). However,
the aesthetic aspect of a product is important, especially to provide
the right presentation for unique, high-level, high-quality
preparations like ours. It is worth noting that Diatom Lab counts
many prominent research centers worldwide among its customers, which
often request customized products to perform specific experiments
using cutting-edge microscopes.
Our
new sealing cement has extraordinary resistance: it has passed tests
conducted with many immersion oils of different brands and types,
ranging from the now-obsolete cedar oil to the modern Zeiss 518F.
Tests showed no deterioration of the cement, even after being in
contact with immersion oil for several hours and days. Our
sealing cement also has extraordinary resistance to water, should you
wish to use specific lenses for water immersion. If
you are a beginner, please note that immersion oil can only be used
with specific lenses. However, you can obviously observe our
microscope slides with dry lenses, which are the ones generally used
(and easier to use).
If
you are unsure how to clean our microscope slides of immersion oil,
we suggest using cotton buds on the cover glass, lightly moistened
with a solution of half isopropyl alcohol (or common denatured
alcohol available at the supermarket) and half water.
Since
2025, the new proprietary Diatom Lab sealing cement has been applied
to all our microscope slides intended for optical microscopy. Try it!