On the equivocal nature of the mass absorption curves

The idea behind the research presented is based upon apparently contradictory experimental results obtained here by means of photoacoustics modalities for the same drug donor/acceptor membrane system, serving as a surrogate for a transdermal delivery system. The first modality allowed for the monitoring of the total amount of mass uptake (m(t)-type data), while the second technique allowed for the quantification of time-dependent concentration distribution within the acceptor membrane (c(x,t)-type data). Despite of a very good agreement between the mt data and the 1st-order uptake fitting model (standard Fickian diffusion with constant source boundary condition), the standard approach failed during the c(x,t) data analysis. The results led to the analysis of the interfacial transfer contribution to the overall mass transfer efficiency, which eventually allowed to question reliability of the mt data analysis for the determination and quantification of the mass transport parameters. A more detailed analysis of the c(x,t) by means of the newly introduced transport rate number parameter revealed, that the mass uptake by the acceptor is almost equally influenced by interfacial and bulk transport processes. The analyses performed were translated into a model-free characteristic times, i.e. parameters independent of the model scheme used.