Evaluating the Conservation State of Naturally Aged Paper with Raman and Luminescence Spectral Mapping: Toward a Non-Destructive Diagnostic Protocol

Sabina Botti; Francesca Bonfigli; Valentina Nigro; Alessandro Rufoloni; Angelo Vannozzi

doi:10.3390/molecules27051712

Evaluating the Conservation State of Naturally Aged Paper with Raman and Luminescence Spectral Mapping: Toward a Non-Destructive Diagnostic Protocol

Molecules. 2022 Mar 5;27(5):1712. doi: 10.3390/molecules27051712.

Authors

Sabina Botti¹, Francesca Bonfigli¹, Valentina Nigro¹, Alessandro Rufoloni², Angelo Vannozzi²

Affiliations

¹ Physical Technologies for Safety and Health Division, Fusion and Technologies for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy.
² Superconductivity Section, Fusion and Technologies for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via E. Fermi 45, 00044 Frascati, Italy.

Abstract

Micro-Raman and luminescence spectroscopy were combined with morphological analysis to study the conservation state of differently degraded paper samples, dated from 1873 to 2021. The aim of the work reported in this paper was to obtain ageing markers based on variations of Raman and fluorescence spectral features. Raman and luminescence spectra were acquired by scanning non-printed areas of books, and Raman and fluorescence maps were built by contrasting spectral parameters point by point, obtaining a micron-scale space resolved imaging of the degradation pattern. Complementary information on paper morphology and surface compactness were obtained by high-resolution scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. The proposed non-destructive procedure is particularly interesting for precious and ancient samples to analyze their degradation processes and to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of restoration treatments.

Keywords: Raman spectral imaging; Raman spectroscopy; cultural heritage; luminescence spectral imaging; luminescence spectroscopy; paper ageing diagnostics.