ENEA has developed innovative techniques to assess the state of preservation of ancient books

ENEA has developed a diagnostic protocol to quickly and noninvasively assess the conservation status of ancient books and the effectiveness of cleaning treatments adopted by restorers. This diagnostic protocol has been employed by researchers to analyze the impact of various green cleaning processes. These green cleaning methods include the application of hydrogels, nonaggressive and nontoxic chemicals, and direct irradiation treatments using radiation in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectral range, without the need for pretreatment of the samples. In addition, combined hydrogel and UV radiation treatments have been tested.

“Our methodology involves the use of two non-destructive and non-invasive techniques-Raman spectrometry and optical microscopy-that, without any material sampling, allow us to obtain information on the morphological and compositional characteristics of paper, which is one of the most widespread and fragile,” explains Sabina Botti, a researcher at the ENEA Micro and Nanostructures Laboratory for Photonics, first author of the study published in the journal Molecules and conducted together with her laboratory colleague Francesca Bonfigli and colleagues Luca Mezi and Francesco Flora of the Plasma Applications and Interdisciplinary Experiments Laboratory at the ENEA Research Center in Frascati.

“To slow the degradation of paper and restore the quality of the library holdings,” Sabina Botti points out, “several cleaning treatments have been developed to remove external contaminants and products of oxidation and decomposition of paper. The problem is that not all of them preserve the unique characteristics of the ancient asset over time.” “To study the ’health’ status of the paper before and after treatment,” the ENEA researcher points out, “we employed, on paper samples dating back to the late 1800s, Raman spectroscopy, a very effective analysis technique that uses ’light’ to study the chemical composition of materials. It proved to be a suitable tool for defining the type of degradation but also for assessing the effectiveness of cleaning treatments.”

“Among the different treatments analyzed, we found that hydrogel has a good cleaning action: once applied to the paper, it is able to capture and remove degradation products and contaminants that may be present on it, such as starch, gum arabic, animal glues and gelatin. EUV irradiation, in addition to a cleaning action even of fungal species, produces an increase in the crystallinity index of the paper, that is, a consolidation of the irradiated paper sample and an increased ability to resist oxidation and aging processes,” the researcher concludes.

ENEA has developed innovative techniques to assess the state of preservation of ancient books

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.