Pyrolysis kinetics study of nucleic acid detection supplies

Abstract To investigate the pyrolytic behavior of materials used in nucleic acid detection and unravel their chemical reaction mechanisms at a molecular scale, thermogravimetric experiments were conducted on a range of components: polypropylene (PP) sampling tubes, polyamide/acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (PA/ABS) pharyngeal swab sampling heads, ABS pharyngeal swab rods, and mixtures of pharyngeal swab sampling heads and sampling tubes at heating rates of 10, 20, 30, and 40°C/min employing conversion from 0.1 to 0.9 in 0.1 increments. Employing three model‐free methods—Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose, (KAS) Flynn–Wall–Ozawa, and Friedman—the pyrolysis kinetics of individual components and mixtures were analyzed. The average activation energy were obtained to be 144.0–152.7, 211.4–213.5, 163.3–168.7, and 156.6–167.3 kJ/mol, respectively. Two model‐fitting methods—Coats‐Redfern and Criado—were used to elucidate the chemical reaction mechanisms across various heating rates and conversions. The pre‐exponential factor was calculated. The pyrolytic behavior of pharyngeal swabs was simulated, and the results showed that the most accurate kinetic parameters were obtained by the KAS method.