Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Yellowing of Ancient Paper

Conte, Adriano Mosca; Pulci, Olivia; Sole, R. Del; Knapik, A.; Bagniuk, J.; Łojewska, Joanna; Teodonio, Lorenzo; Missori, Mauro

doi:10.1380/ejssnt.2012.569

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This increasing is even larger in Damascus samples 529 and 17 (see Table 2), where the relative concentrations of M2H and CHO are comparable. Other studies have shown that this result is typical for samples aged in high humidity environment [77,81]. We also note that CC oxidized group is always absent in all the samples.…”

Section: Ccosupporting

confidence: 84%

Theoretical optical spectroscopy of complex systems

Conte¹,

Violante²,

Missori

et al. 2013

Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena

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We review here some of the most reliable and efficient computational theoretical ab initio techniques for the prediction of optical and electronic spectroscopic properties and show some important applications to molecules, surfaces, and solids. We investigate the role of the solvent in the optical absorption spectrum of indole molecule. We study the excited-state properties of a photo-active minimal model molecule for the retinal of rhodopsin, responsible for vision mechanism in animals. We then show a study about spectroscopic properties of Si(1 1 1) surface. Finally we simulate a bulk system: paper, that is mainly made of cellulose, a pseudo-crystalline material representing 40% of annual biomass production in the Earth. (C) 2013 Elsevier BAT. All rights reserved

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Section: Ccosupporting

confidence: 84%

Theoretical optical spectroscopy of complex systems

Conte¹,

Violante²,

Missori

et al. 2013

Journal of Electron Spectroscopy and Related Phenomena

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“…Pristine cellulose does not absorb light above about 200 nm (below 6 eV) [8,18]. The yellow color seen in aged papers is mainly due to the fact that chromophores in paper absorb the higher energy band of visible light (corresponding to violet and blue) and largely scatter the yellow and red portion, thereby producing the characteristic yellow-brown hue [8,15,20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical response of strongly absorbing inhomogeneous materials: Application to paper degradation

et al. 2014

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In this paper, we present a new noninvasive and nondestructive approach to recover scattering and absorption coefficients from reflectance measurements of highly absorbing and optically inhomogeneous media. Our approach is based on the Yang and Miklavcic theoretical model of light propagation through turbid media, which is a generalization of the Kubelka-Munk theory, extended to accommodate optically thick samples. We show its applications to paper, a material primarily composed of a web of fibers of cellulose, whose optical properties are strongly governed by light scattering effects. Samples studied were ancient and industrial paper sheets, aged in different conditions and highly absorbing in the ultraviolet region. The recovered experimental absorptions of cellulose fibers have been compared to theoretical ab initio quantum-mechanical computational simulations carried out within time-dependent density functional theory. In this way, for each sample, we evaluate the absolute concentration of different kinds of oxidized groups formed upon aging and acting as chromophores causing paper discoloration. We found that the relative concentration of different chromophores in cellulose fibers depends on the aging temperature endured by samples. This clearly indicates that the oxidation of cellulose follows temperature-dependent reaction pathways. Our approach has a wide range of applications for cellulose-based materials, like paper, textiles, and other manufactured products of great industrial and cultural interest, and can potentially be extended to other strongly absorbing inhomogeneous materials

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“…2(b)). The linear combination coefficients obtained give an estimation of the concentration of chromophores inside aged paper, 20,21 and make it possible to obtain chemical information on the self-portrait by entirely non-destructive and non-invasive optical measurements.…”

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confidence: 99%

Visual degradation in Leonardo da Vinci's iconic self-portrait: A nanoscale study

Conte

Pulci

Misiti

et al. 2014

Applied Physics Letters

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The discoloration of ancient paper, due to the development of oxidized groups acting as chromophores in its chief component, cellulose, is responsible for severe visual degradation in ancient artifacts. By adopting a non-destructive approach based on the combination of optical reflectance measurements and time-dependent density functional theory ab-initio calculations, we describe and quantify the chromophores affecting Leonardo da Vinci's iconic self-portrait. Their relative concentrations are very similar to those measured in modern and ancient samples aged in humid environments. This analysis quantifies the present level of optical degradation of the Leonardo da Vinci's self-portrait which, compared with future measurements, will assess its degradation rate. This is a fundamental information in order to plan appropriate conservation strategies. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC

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Experimental and Theoretical Study of the Yellowing of Ancient Paper

Cited by 17 publications

References 19 publications

Theoretical optical spectroscopy of complex systems

Theoretical optical spectroscopy of complex systems

Optical response of strongly absorbing inhomogeneous materials: Application to paper degradation

Visual degradation in Leonardo da Vinci's iconic self-portrait: A nanoscale study

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