Micelle, microemulsions, and gels for the conservation of cultural heritage

Piero Baglioni; Debora Berti; Massimo Bonini; Emiliano Carretti; Luigi Dei; Emiliano Fratini; Rodorico Giorgi

doi:10.1016/j.cis.2013.09.008

Micelle, microemulsions, and gels for the conservation of cultural heritage

Adv Colloid Interface Sci. 2014 Mar:205:361-71. doi: 10.1016/j.cis.2013.09.008. Epub 2013 Oct 17.

Authors

Piero Baglioni¹, Debora Berti², Massimo Bonini², Emiliano Carretti², Luigi Dei², Emiliano Fratini², Rodorico Giorgi²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" and CSGI, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019 Florence, Italy. Electronic address: baglioni@csgi.unifi.it.
² Department of Chemistry "Ugo Schiff" and CSGI, University of Florence, Via della Lastruccia 3, Sesto Fiorentino, 50019 Florence, Italy.

PMID: 24200088
DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2013.09.008

Abstract

Past restorations performed with acrylic and vinyl polymers showed detrimental effects to wall paintings that lead to the complete disfiguration of the painted surfaces. The removal of these materials performed with the traditional solvent-based methodology represents a real challenge to conservators and usually achieves very poor results. This review reports on the new palette, nowadays available to restorers, based on microemulsions, micellar systems, physical and chemical gels specifically formulated for the cleaning of cultural heritage artefacts. These systems have been developed in the last twenty years within the cultural framework of colloids and surface science.

Keywords: Cleaning; Conservation; Cultural heritage; Gel; Micelle; Microemulsion.