Nuovi materiali associati a tecniche analitiche non invasive per la diagnosi dello stato di conservazione dei Beni Culturali

The thesis deals with new materials to be implemented with non-invasive analytical Mainly with the help of the analysis techniques -Raman and ATR FT-IR for applications in the field of Cultural Heritage diagnosis and conservation. The first section is based on the synthesis and assessment of nano-CaCO3 as the conserving agent for a variety of ancient materials. After a description of the ancient materials used for experimentation (lithic materials, as well as parchment and paper), there is a detailed historical section on the case studies selected for the investigations. The study has been carried out on plasters of "Palazzetto di Alessandro Lancia" in Rome, on wall paintings of "Villa Campolieto" in Ercolano, on parchment of "Chartula di San Francesco" and on paper of "Carta di Monte Cassino". The first part of the work involves the synthesis of nano-CaCO3 using two different approaches, namely via a) biomineralization and b) nanoemulsions. Once the nanoparticles have been used for the conservation of nanoparticles, the nanomaterial has been used for the study. The whole of the data collected shows that nano-CaCO3 obtained by biomineralization behaves as an efficient consolidant and filler for calcite plasters, on wall paintings as well as on parchment and paper, where it also represents an excellent method to provide alkalinity thus contrasting their degradation. With the aim to reach the peculiar chemical conditions of a naturally aged paper, the second part of the study deals with the artificial aging of commercial paper. This "artificially aged" paper together with ancient paper samples has been treated with nano-CaCO3 in order to verify its potential deacidification material able also to act as "alkalinity storage", with encouraging results. The third part of the research is focused on the application of properly functionalized gellan gels for paper cleaning, both artificially aged as well as ancient one. The results obtained have been compared with the ones gained for paper cleaned by traditional methods. This innovative approach has shown excellent results in terms of cleaning; It is also able to provide additional essential alkalinity to ensure good conservation of paper.