Study on the use of aqueous nano-MgO dispersions for mild deacidification of ancient books

Abstract During the long-term preservation of ancient books, acidic substances will continuously erode and cause them to suffer severe damage. As a mild deacidification agent, nano-MgO is often dispersed in organic solvents for large-scale deacidification. This study is based on small-scale deacidification in the laboratory, using cheaper and safer water as the carrier, and aiming at the problem that nano-MgO is easy to agglomerate, through the combination of ultrasonic dispersion and dispersant, the nano-MgO aqueous suspension with improved dispersion and acceptable stability was prepared. The results indicate that ultrasonication in an ice-bath at 600 W for 10 min was optimal, and the mass ratio of dispersant to MgO is 1:5 can meet the dispersion requirements. The average particle size of MgO under the optimal dispersion conditions measured by a nanometer particle size analyzer is below 400 nm. The AFM picture shows that the particle size of MgO was observed to be approximately 100 nm. SEM pictures show that MgO appears to be relatively evenly distributed on the fiber surface, the deacidification behavior appears relatively uniform across the treated samples, and the effect is better than that of the deacidification solution without dispersion treatment.