Zetasizer Lab

Features and benefits

Works with OmniTrust: Malvern Panalytical's compliance solution for the regulated environment

The Zetasizer Lab is the perfect entry-level system, offering a wide range of features, including:

DLS analysis : particle size measurements from 0.3 nm to 10 μm
Extended size range analysis offers improved accuracy for particle sizes above 1 μm, and indicative results above 10 μm (using ZSU1002 Low Volume Disposable Sizing Cell)
Zeta potential of nanoparticles and colloids using M3-PALS analysis and constant current zeta mode
Molecular weight using Static Light Scattering at 90°
Supports use of Low Volume Disposable Capillary Cell for size measurements in sample volumes as low as 3 μL
Available in Blue Label and Red Label variants:
- Choose Blue Label for routine sample investigation such as metallic colloids, metal oxides and pigments
- Choose Red Label for more challenging sample types, such as proteins, surfactant solutions and low solid content samples
On-site upgradeability to either Zetasizer Pro or Zetasizer Ultra models

Upgrade your analysis!

Limited-time deal: Level up your new laser diffraction or light scattering purchase for free, OR trade in your old system for a discount. Find out more >

Which Zetasizer is right for me?

	Zetasizer Ultra	Zetasizer Pro	Zetasizer Lab
Size Measurement Principle	Non-Invasive Back Scatter (NIBS) Dynamic Light Scattering Dynamic Light Scattering (90° and 13°) Multi-Angle Dynamic Light Scattering (MADLS^®)	Non-Invasive Back Scatter (NIBS) Dynamic Light Scattering	Classical 90° Dynamic Light Scattering
Zeta Measurement Principle	ELS with M3-PALS and Constant Current Zeta Mode	ELS with M3-PALS and Constant Current Zeta Mode	ELS with M3-PALS and Constant Current Zeta Mode
Molecular Weight and B22	Static Light Scattering (90° and 173°)	Static Light Scattering (173°)	Static Light Scattering (90°)
Optical Filter Wheel (Fluorescence/DDLS)	Yes	Yes	No
Low Volume Disposable Sizing Cell with Extended Size Analysis Support	Yes	No	Yes
MADLS® (High Resolution DLS)	Yes	No	No
MADLS® - Particle Concentration/Titer	Yes²	No	No
21 CFR Part 11 compliant software	Optional via Omnitrust	Optional via Omnitrust	Optional via Omnitrust
Size
Range²	0.3 nm to 10 μm	0.3 nm to 10 μm	0.3 nm to 10 μm
Minimum Volume	3 μL	12 μL	3 μL
Zeta potential
Size Range	3.8 nm to 100 μm	3.8 nm to 100 μm	3.8 nm to 100 μm
Minimum Volume³	20 μL	20 μL	20 μL

¹ Red Label only
² 10 um by default. Option to extend for Zetasizer Lab and Zetasizer Ultra coming soon
³ Patented Diffusion Barrier method in capillary cell

Key applications

The Zetasizer Advance Range is suitable for a wide range of applications, including:

Colloidal Silica: Sizing of colloidal silica is a critical requirement. This is easily and reproducibly measured using the Zetasizer Lab Blue Label.

Titanium Dioxide: Titanium dioxide use is wide-ranging. When used in paints or inks, agglomerate or aggregate formation can diminish product performance. The Zetasizer Pro Blue Label, used alongside the MPT‑3 Autotitrator, characterizes the impact of salt concentration on the stability of TiO₂ and identifies the most stable pH region.

Ceramics: The strength of ceramics is linked to particle size, and the Zetasizer Ultra Blue Label is ideally placed to measure this. Al₂O₃ samples are often made of differently-sized particles which can easily be identified using MADLS. In this 0.1% w/v sample, the two particle size populations would not be distinguishable with a single angle DLS measurement.

Proteins: For protein researchers, early access to characterization data can be a challenge, due to low sample volumes. This is easily overcome using the Zetasizer Lab Red Label with the capillary cell to confirm that samples meet quality requirements and that production and purification processes are optimized.

Carbon Dots (C-dots): Photoluminescent C-dots are considered safer alternatives to quantum dots. Measuring fluorescent samples by DLS can be challenging due to additional photons emitted by the fluorophore. Available with NIBS on Zetasizer Pro Red Label, a filter removes this interference to provide accurate and reliable data.

Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV): Monitoring viral concentration is important during development and production optimization. By using the Multi-Angle DLS (MADLS) based particle concentration measurement in the Zetasizer Ultra Red Label, both the size distribution and titer of the virus can be measured within a few minutes.

The Zetasizer Advance Range is used in many industries, including:

Academia: The Zetasizer Lab is an essential analytical tool for many academic laboratories worldwide, finding use in all applications where particle or molecular size and zeta potential analysis is required. The breadth of applications covered by Zetasizer systems, coupled with tens of thousands of scientific citations, have earned these instruments a central space in many scientific faculties.

Bioscience: Variations in molecule concentration, external temperature, level of agitation and time all impact the stability of biological molecules. Instabilities mainly result in denaturation and aggregation of the molecule through which they can lose their biological function , elicit an immune response and consequently limit its therapeutic viability. Factors affecting therapeutic efficacy and immunogenicity therefore need to be monitored throughout the development pipeline especially at early stages to de-risk the biological drug molecule and limit late-stage failures. The Zetasizer range provides high quality, stability indicating data for biological drug molecules in a short time frame, enabling this measurement to be implemented throughout the development pipeline.

Food and drink: Zetasizer systems are used to analyze particle size and zeta potential to improve the appearance and taste of foods, drinks and flavorings, and optimize dispersion and emulsion stability to extend product shelf life and improve product performance.

Nanomaterials: Zetasizer measurements of nanoparticle size distribution, dispersion properties, stability and propensity to aggregate are crucial to the design of new nanomaterials. The very large surface area of such materials may result in novel physical and chemical properties, such as increased catalytic activity, improved solubility or unexpected optical or toxicological behavior.

Paints, inks and coatings: Paint, ink and coating formulations must be stable to keep them in an optimum state over time without change or aggregation. Particle size and zeta potential, measured by the Zetasizer instruments, play important roles in determining a product’s properties, such as dispersibility, color, strength, finish, durability and shelf life.

Pharmaceuticals: The correct particle size and zeta potential can help ensure the production of effective therapeutics, delivered safely. Zetasizer systems are used to characterize the stability and quality of dispersions, emulsions and creams, reducing formulation time and speeding new products to market.

Specification

Specification for the Zetasizer Lab Red Label and Blue Label

Particle size and molecular size

Measurement principle	Classical 90° Dynamic Light Scattering
Measurement angle	90°, 13° ⁽¹⁾
Measurement range	0.3 nm to 15 μm ⁽²⁾
Minimum sample volume	3 μL
Concentration range	Minimum Sample Concentration: Blue Label: 1 mg/mL 15 kDa Protein Red Label: 0.3 mg/mL 15 kDa Protein Maximum sample Concentration: ⁽³⁾ 40% w/v

Zeta potential

Measurement principle	Mixed-Mode Measurement phase analysis light scattering (M3-PALS)
Size range	3.8 nm – 100 μm
Minimum sample volume	20 μL ⁽⁴⁾
Concentration range	Red Label: 1 mg/mL ⁽⁵⁾ to 40% w/v ⁽⁶⁾ Blue Label: 10 mg/mL ⁽⁵⁾ to 40% w/v ⁽⁶⁾
Sample conductivity range	Maximum: 260 mS/cm

Static Light Scattering (molecular weight)

Measurement principle	Static Light Scattering with Debye Plot
Molecular weight range	Lab – Red Model: 300 Da - 20 MDa Lab – Blue Model: 980 Da - 20 MDa
Accuracy	+/- 10% typical

System

Detector	Avalanche Photodiode
Laser safety	He-Ne (633 nm) Blue label: 4 mW Max Red label: 10 mW Max
Temperature control range	0°C to 120°C ⁽⁷⁾
Dimensions (W, D, H)	322 mm x 565 mm x 245 mm
Weight	19 kg
Power	AC 100-240 V, 50-60 Hz, 4.0 A
Power consumption	Max 100 W, Typical 45 W
Ambient conditions	+10°C to +35°C, 35 to 80% RH (Non-condensing)
Interface	USB 2.0 or higher

Footnotes

Notes	1 - Water as dispersant 2 - Indicative data available for particle sizes greater than 10 μm when using Extended Size Range analysis and low volume disposable sizing cell accessory 3 - Sample dependent 4 - Using patented diffusion barrier technique 5 - Measured using 15 kDa protein 6 - Measured using bile acid 7 - Dry nitrogen cell purge required for temperatures below dewpoint 8 - Accuracy 0.1°C at 25°C, 0.2°C at 0°C, 0.5°C at 90°C

Notes

1 - Water as dispersant

2 - Indicative data available for particle sizes greater than 10 μm when using Extended Size Range analysis and low volume disposable sizing cell accessory

3 - Sample dependent

4 - Using patented diffusion barrier technique

5 - Measured using 15 kDa protein

6 - Measured using bile acid

7 - Dry nitrogen cell purge required for temperatures below dewpoint

8 - Accuracy 0.1°C at 25°C, 0.2°C at 0°C, 0.5°C at 90°C

Accessories

Configure the Zetasizer Lab for your applications and requirements with our range of configuration options:

Significantly improve your system utilization with the Sample Assistant – a new accessory for every Zetasizer Advance system. It frees the operator from manually changing samples.

The result? The same great data quality and versatility you expect from your Zetasizer Advance with even greater efficiency.

The MPT-3 is a cost-effective accessory for the Zetasizer Advance range, designed to automate your Zeta and/or Size vs. pH titrations, helping you understand how your materials behave as a function of pH.

The zeta potential and/or size of your materials with pH changes can be critical in understanding:

Material stability
Agglomeration
Flocculation
Point of net-zero charge (isoelectric point)
Storage conditions

The SV-10 measures viscosity with the accuracy required for dynamic light scattering, for the conversion of diffusion speed to size, and electrophoretic mobility to zeta potential, in an extremely simple and rapid system.

Cell and cuvette options

The zeta potential of colloids and molecules is extremely sensitive to contamination from components of a previous sample used in a measurement cell. The use of a disposable cell completely eliminates this potential contamination issue.

The folded capillary cell provides the benefits of the accuracy of measurement of a capillary cell with the ease of use of a disposable cell.

Although, disposable, including the electrodes, for low conductivity samples each cell can be used for hundreds of measurements if required.

The cell can be used with the autotitrator, where multiple measurements are routinely done over a wide pH range.

The dip cell is used for the measurement of zeta potential of samples in aqueous and non-aqueous dispersants, and is designed to be cleaned and reused. It is for batch measurements using standard polystyrene or glass cuvettes.

Our low volume disposable sizing cell (ZSU1002) design is unique in offering easy-fill, ultra-low volume size measurement in as little as 3 μL.

Measure larger particles (up to 10 μm) with greater accuracy thanks to the inherent physical qualities of the capillary sizing cell
The cell also eliminates the errors associated with multiple scattering, allowing samples to be measured over a wider dynamic concentration range than would normally be possible at side scatter (90°)
The use of ZSU1002 is supported on Zetasizer Lab and Zetasizer Ultra models

The high concentration cell enables the measurement of the zeta potential of samples with little or no dilution in any Zetasizer Advance system that measures zeta potential.

The cell has a flow configuration so can be used for stop-flow size and zeta potential measurements using an MPT-3 autotitrator as well as batch measurements.

For size and zeta potential measurements using the ‘dip’ cell
Compatible with aqueous and non-aqueous solvents and dispersants

100 disposable cells complete with 100 stoppers to avoid cross-contamination
For size measurements using aqueous dispersants
Compatible with zeta potential measurements using the dip cell

For size and molecular weight measurements
Compatible with aqueous and non-aqueous solvents and dispersants

Compatible with size and molecular weight measurements with aqueous and non-aqueous solvents and dispersants
Minimum sample volume 12 microliters
Maximum volume 45 microliters

Support

Protect your investment and ensure optimized performance at all times with Malvern Panalytical’s service plans.

When you purchase a Malvern Panalytical product we understand that this is just the first stage of a working relationship that will last for the lifetime of the instrument. Depending on your needs, Malvern Panalytical will provide the support for your business.

Help Desk

Telephone and email support .
Operators who take responsibility for your call and ensure your query is answered.

Training

User training events
E-learning

Software downloads

A simple mechanism for receiving updates and new features

Malvern Panalytical’s service options- choose the right plan for you:

Malvern Panalytical Platinum Plan

For laboratories where maximizing instrument up-time is critical to its daily performance. Our highest level of response and the 'all inclusive' price plan takes care of those unexpected repair bills should the unfortunate occur.

Malvern Panalytical Gold Plan

Enhance your laboratory productivity by maintaining instrument efficiency. Still receive that priority response, combined with specialist technical and software support, we'll keep your instrument performance on track to deliver.

Malvern Panalytical Bronze Visit

For laboratories looking to optimize instrument performance, regular preventative maintenance is essential.

	Platinum Plan	Gold Plan	Bronze Visit
Annual PM/PV Test	yes	yes	no
Telephone / Email Support	yes	yes	no
Priority Response	yes	yes	no
Emergency Breakdown visits*	yes	yes	no
Parts Included	yes	no	no
E-Learning**	yes	yes	no
Technical & Software Support	yes	yes	yes
IQ/OQ (Pharma)***	yes	yes	yes

*including labour & travel costs ** Platinum 2 places per contract term, Gold 1 place per contract term ***available at an additional cost

Connected world

Smart Manager

Unleash the potential of your data

Until now, instrument data has too often been stuck in manual records, spreadsheets or site-specific servers. By connecting your Zetasizer Lab to our Smart Manager and continually analyzing instrument data in the cloud, you can unleash its full potential. This is just one of our digital solutions that are part of Malvern Panalytical's Smart Manager.

Smart Install

Get your new Zetasizer Lab up and running faster when you choose to smart install.

With comprehensive resources to help you quickly and safely set-up and verify the performance of your new instrument, there’s no need to wait for an engineer to do it for you. What’s more, smart install presents a new training opportunity as you receive full access to exclusive training material.

How does it work?

When you follow the step-by-step video instructions, you could be up and running within 90 minutes of delivery of your new Zetasizer Lab.

You don't need any specific skills or knowledge to perform a smart installation. Simply follow the instructions provided.

Everything needed to get started is provided with your new instrument – all you need is an internet connection to access the online training.

Exclusive e-learning content

Resources to get you up and running quickly and with confidence include:

detailed video guides walk you through installation and set-up;
15-months access to the Essentials e-learning course, which is provided at no extra cost;
a comprehensive user manual.

Find out more about smart install.

Classic side scatter particle size and zeta potential analyzer with enhanced capabilities