1Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Alneelain University, 11121, Khartoum, Sudan
2Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Alneelain University, 11121, Khartoum, Sudan
3Department of Physics and Astronomy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
*Corresponding author e-mail: siddig_ma@yahoo.com
Online published on 27 April, 2016.
In this work, three types of peppermint (Mentha cervina) namely; traditional, super and higaze were considered. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to investigate the structure of powder samples of the leaves of peppermints. The XRD results were indicated that the structures of three types of peppermint were amorphous. The XRF results s that the owed that the three types were contained eleven elements; potassium (K), calcium (Ca), titanium (Ti), Iron (Fe), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) Bromine (Br), Rubidium (Rr), Strontium (Sr), Yttrium(Y). However, both types traditional and super peppermint were found to have extra elements, manganese (Mn), which was missing in the case of Higaze peppermint. The concentrations of elements were different for different types. The optical properties of the three types of peppermints were carried out using Fourier Transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Ultra violet spectroscopy (UV). The FTIR spectra showed strong absorption in the range 1500–1450 cm-1 and 1630–1690 cm-1, which were assigned to different stretching vibrations. The absorption of the traditional, super and higaze were found to be 2.75, 2.48 and 2.20 a. u, respectively. The wave length of the three types were found to be 215.75 nm, 208.90 nm, 204.90 nm, while the energy band gap were calculated and found to be 3.45 eV, 3.95 eV, and 4.62 eV, respectively. Concerning the three types of peppermint, the traditional type showed highest absorption and less energy band gap
Energy band gap, physical properties, peppermints, Sudan
