Cyanotype

Blueprinting
NAME : Arya Singh
CLASS : XII D
ROLL NO.
YEAR 2024-25
St. PAUL’S SCHOOL

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ACKNOWLEDGME
NT
I would like to express my sincere gratitude
to my chemistry teacher Ms. Ananya
Varghese who gave me a golden
opportunity to do this wonderful project on
the topic Cyanotype Blueprinting. This
project helped me in doing lot of research
and I came to know about many new
things .

Secondly I would like to thank my family and

friends who helped me a lot in finishing this
project within the limited time.

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 certificate
This is to certify that Arya Singh , Board
roll no. ______
of class XII D has successfully completed
the investigatory project on the topic ‘
Cyanotype Blueprinting ’ under the
guidance of Ms. Ananya Varghese
during the year 2024-25 in the partial
fulfilment of chemistry practical
examination conducted by CBSE.

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_____________ _______________.
___________
Internal Examiner External
Examiner Principal

Index
S. No. Topics Page no.

1 Materials Required

2. Cyanotype
Blueprinting

3 Procedure

4. Observation

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5. Conclusion

6. Bibliography

Materials Required
Chemicals Required: Oxalic acid, Ferric
chloride, Diammonium phosphate,
Potassium Ferricyanide, Potassium
dichromate, Hydrochloric acid
Apparatus: conical flask, Measuring
flasks , glass rods , trays, beakers, filter
papers , glass plates, object for printing.

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 Cyanotype
Blueprinting
Blueprinting paper is photosensitive. Objects
put onto it will block sunlight, leaving the
paper unchanged there. Where the sunlight
can get to the paper, an intense blue colour
develops. The blue colour will not wash out

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of the paper, but the greenish colour left
under the object will. This leaves a white
image of the object on a blue background.

The bright blue blueprint or cyanotype

process which developed in 1842. It was
first used to record herbarium specimens
without benefits of a camera, the
specimens were place directly again sheets
of paper impregnated with chemicals and
exposed to light.

Blueprints most often reproduce

architectural or engineering drawings,
diagrams, and plans.

How is it made ?
Get two small beakers:
Weigh 5 g of Substance A into one
beaker
Weigh 9 g of Substance B into the other
beaker.
Use the measuring cylinder to add 50
cm3 of water to each beaker. Stir

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carefully with the stirring rod until all
the crystals in each beaker have
dissolved.
Next part is done in the dark part ort of
the lab.
Mix the two solutions together, and pour
them into a tray. Lay a piece of white A4
paper onto the surface of the liquid just
long enough to get it damp – not wet.
Your paper will turn greenish blue. Hang
it up to dry out. Carry your dry
blueprinting paper and object over to
the window. Place your object on top of
the paper, and leave it in the sunlight:
The bits covered by your object will stay
green
The exposed bits will turn blue.
When you think the paper has gone blue
enough, take the object off the
paper.Wash the blueprinting paper
carefully with tap water. This removes

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the green colour but leaves the blue
colour behind. You will see white where
the green has been washed away.Leave
your blueprint to dry out.
This process relies on the
photoreduction of the ferric ions.
Cyanotype are quite long lasting.

The chemistry of this reaction relies on

two different reactions:
A) Ferric ions in organic – iron
complex are reduced by light (for
example ammonium ferric citrate
and ammonium ferric oxalate).
Under UV light, ferric oxalate (or it’s
ammonium salt ) gets reduced to
ferrous oxalate, with the release of
CO2 ,
B)The ferrous ions formed are
allowed to react with potassium
ferricyanide to form an insoluble blue

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 compound called Prussian blue, Fe4
[Fe(CN)6]3 . 15 H2O

Since The Oxidation- Reduction reaction of

ferric oxalate is very fast in
light,Diammonium Phosphate is added to
reduce the sensitivity of ferric oxalate
reaction so thatthe sensitized paper may be
prepared in diffused light of the laboratory.
In ordinary photochemical studies, light
enters the system continuously but at a
lowintensity level. As a result, the
concentration of short-lived intermediaries,
is very low. Sotheir observation is very
difficult. In FLASH PHOTOLYSIS
on the other hand, the systemis exposed to
a very powerful beam of light for a very
short period of time .There is a higher
concentration of intermediaries and so
results are clearly visible.

Procedure
1. Solutions to prepare:

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(a)0.5M Oxalic acid : Weigh 6.3 grams of
Oxalic acid in a clean weighing bottle and
transfer it to a 100ml standard flask.
Dissolve it in distilled water and make the
solution up to 100ml. shake it well for
uniform concentration
(b)0.67M Ferric chloride : Weigh 10.82g
Ferric chloride in a clean weighing bottle
and transfer it to a 100ml standard flask.
Dissolve it in distilled water and make the
solutionupto 100ml. Shake it well for
uniform concentration.
c ) 0.1M Potassium ferricyanide: Weigh 3.28
g of Potassium ferricyanide in a clean
weighing bottle and transfer it to a 100 ml
standard flask. Dissolve it in distilled water
and make the solution up to 100ml. Shake it
well for uniform concentration.
(d ) 3.5 M Diammonium phosphate : Weigh
4.42gm in a clan weighing bottle and
transfer into a 100ml standard flask.
Dissolve it in distilled water and make
solution upto 100ml.Shake it well for
uniform concentration.

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(e) 0.03M Potassium dichromate : Weigh
2.2gm of Potassium dichromate in a clean
weighing bottle and transfer it to a 100ml
standard flask. Dissolve it in distilled water
and make the solution upto 100ml. Shake it
well for uniform concentration

2. In a 500ml beaker, mix 100ml of Oxalic

acid solution with 20ml of Diammonium
phosphate solution. Place the beaker in
diffused light in a locker. Add 100ml of
Ferric chloride solution to the solution of
Oxalic acid and Diammonium phosphate
while stirring. A small precipitate formed
initially will dissolve on further stirring. Close
the locker and open it only when necessary.
3.Take pieces of filter paper . Open the
locker and immerse the paper in the
solution of Ferric oxalate. Rotate the beaker
so that the paper is thoroughly wet and no
dry spots are left. This must be done in
diffused light.
4.Remove the wet pieces of filter paper
from the beaker and place them between
sheets of filter paper. This should be done

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as quickly as possible in partly closed locker.
Leave the pieces of paper between the filter
papers for 15 to 20 minutes so that they get
sufficiently dry. For a sharp print ,they
should be dried overnight. Keep the
sensitized paper in sheets of black chart
paper.
5.After the paper has dried sufficiently, take
the paper and keep object on the paper.
Compress it below a sheet of glass and
expose it to light. The time of exposure for
normal printing in 2-3 minutes if bright
sunlight is used.
6. After the exposure to sunlight , treat the
paper with Potassium ferricyanide solution,
HCl solution then wash it with very dilute
potassium dichromate solution and water.
Leave the print to dry.

Observation

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Conclusion
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Page 15
Bibliography
1. www.wikipedia.org
2. https://www.creative-
chemistry.org.uk/activities/blueprinting
3. https://edu.rsc.org

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