Nanoscale IR Spectroscopy: From Recent Technical Advances to Nanoscale Mapping and Identification of Metal Soaps in Oil Paints
Description:
Oil paints are mixtures of pigments, drying oils and additives. Painted works of art don’t last indefinitely because humidity- and temperature-driven chemical reactions between oils and pigments yield “metal-soaps”, one of the leading causes of paint degradation. Though these compounds have long been found in oil paintings, for example by µ-FTIR, researchers do not fully understand how they form and then proceed to damage artworks.
In this talk, I will discuss the working principles and applications of two novel photothermal IR spectroscopy methods (AFM-IR[1-3] and O-PTIR[3]) that use either an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip or a visible laser beam, respectively, to bypass the IR diffraction-limit and pushing benefits of IR spectral analysis to the nanoscale (≈10 nm for AFM-IR, ≈500 nm for O-PTIR).
As examples, I will determine the nanoscale distribution of metal-soaps in 1) a Zinc-containing oil paint of known average composition which naturally aged for 23 years and 2) in the top layer of a French nineteenth-century painting (Gypsy Woman with Mandolin by Corot, Figure 1, c. 1870) contain lead-white and cobalt-green pigments along with metal-soaps. Our measurements offer an unprecedented nanoscale composition-sensitive observation window on oil paints which will be critical to better understand chemical reactions in paints and to identify species with low average concentrations which are undetectable by FTIR.
Finally, I will discuss recent AFM-IR advances from my lab that improve the sensitivity, time-resolution and throughput many folds, enabling concurrent measurements of composition, thermal conductivity and interfacial thermal conductance at the nanoscale.
[1] Chem. Soc. Rev. 2022, 51, 5248.
[2] Chem. Soc. Rev. 2020, 49, 3315.
[3] Anal. Chem. 2022, 94, 3103.
Speaker: Andrea Centrone - NIST
Dr. Andrea Centrone is a Project Leader in the Nanoscale Spectroscopy Group at NIST. He received a Laurea degree and a Ph. D. in Materials Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan, Italy, and has carried out postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Centrone joined NIST in 2010, where has made important contributions developing scanning probe methods (such as PTIR, AFM-IR, STIRM, SJEM, SThM) to measure chemical composition, optical and thermal properties at the nanoscale in the quest to answer outstanding questions in nanotechnology and material science.
Andrea is the recipient of NIST Bronze Medal Award (2019) and of the 2022 Scientific Achievement Award of the Royal Microscopical Society. Dr Centrone has authored or coauthored over 55 peer reviewed publications and has given more than 45 invited presentations.
Co-Authors
Nanoscale IR Spectroscopy: From Recent Technical Advances to Nanoscale Mapping and Identification of Metal Soaps in Oil Paints
Category
2023 Call for Invited Abstracts
Description
Session Number: AW05-02
Session Type: Award Abstract
Session Date: Monday 3/20/2023
Session Time: 8:30 AM - 11:50 AM
Room Number: 124
Track: Nanotechnology & Materials Science
Category: Art/Archaeology/Geochemistry, Nanotechnology/Nanoscience, Vibrational Spectroscopy
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