Investigating the Effects of Atomic Oxygen Cold Plasma Surface Cleaning on the Oil Paint
Abstract Surface cleaning plays a crucial role in the conservation of cultural heritage objects. Existing methods still present limitations in terms of efficacy, safety, and sustainability, pushing the field for constant innovation. This study investigates a novel cleaning technique based on the use of atomic oxygen (AO) generated in atmospheric pressure plasma. The focus is placed on the systematic investigation of the impact of AO on sensitive organic substrates during the cleaning action, to explore the applicability and limitations of the technique. To this aim, the experimentation is carried out on model oil paint layers, as natural curing and aging mechanisms of polyunsaturated oils are driven and defined by interactions with atmospheric molecular oxygen. Optical microscopy, SEM, ATR‐FTIR, SPME/GC‐MS, and EGA‐MS are used, showing that treated fresh oil paint layers undergo an increase in oxidative degradation and chain scission, while crosslinking is favored in aged paint layers. Over time, AO‐treated samples evolve to closely resemble control samples.
Authors
- Ana Sobota (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1036-4513)
- Ilaria Bonaduce (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0346-8373)
- Rino Morent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6336-1485)
- Tomas Markevičius (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2322-9540)
- Silvia Pizzimenti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6230-5681)
- Yijia Song (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5778-8491)
- Antonella Manariti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5581-1633)
- Klaas Jan van den Berg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8145-1262)
- Anton Yu Nikiforov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2255-6419)
- Kirill Shumikhin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4967-0386)
- Celia Duce (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9354-7993)
- Michalis Poupouzas
Institutions
- Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam (NL)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Cultural Heritage Agency of Netherlands (NL)
- Industriale Chimica (Italy) (IT)
- University of Naples Federico II (IT)
- Eindhoven University of Technology (NL)
- Sapienza University of Rome (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Advanced Materials Interfaces
- Published
- 2025-10-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1002/admi.202500220
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Cultural Heritage Materials Analysis
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 16.55
Funders
- Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek