Novel Alginate-Based Physical Hydrogels: Promising Cleaning Tools for Sensitive Artifacts

Natural polysaccharides are used for very different applications and are particularly exploited for preparing hydrogel materials. For instance, gels based on different carbohydrate polymers have been applied to remove unwanted materials from the surface of cultural heritages items. This study was focused on the preparation of novel physical hydrogels suitable for the cleaning of sensitive materials like wood and paper, i.e., to remove the soil from their surface. For this purpose, alginate biopolymer was used and ionically crosslinked with six different amines, in the presence of N-hydroxysuccinimide as a co-gelling agent. All the synthetized gel materials were characterized by a multianalytical approach, using different techniques such as FT-IR, thermal analysis, SEM-EDS, mechanical tests, and evaluation of moisture properties. All the results showed that the introduction of the investigated amines improved the original properties of alginate and provided good cleaning properties when applied to sensitive surfaces.