09 May 2023
A new scientific article entitled “Novel Graphene-Based Materials as a Tool for Improving Long-Term Storage of Cultural Heritage” has just been published on the MDPI scientific journal. The article was written by our project partner FORTH in collaboration with ZFB’s researchers, in which the and GREENART project has been acknowledge.
MDPI scientific journal is a pioneer in scholarly, open access publishing, MDPI has supported academic communities since 1996. Based in Basel, Switzerland, MDPI has the mission to foster open scientific exchange in all forms, across all disciplines.
Here you can find the abstract of the article:
The very serious problem of temperature and humidity regulation, especially for small and medium-sized museums, galleries, and private collections, can be mitigated by the introduction of novel materials that are easily applicable and of low cost. Within this study, archive boxes with innovative technology are proposed as “smart” boxes that can be used for storage and transportation, in combination with a nanocomposite material consisting of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and graphene oxide (GO). The synthesis and characterization of the PVA/GO structure with SEM, Raman, AFM, XRD, Optical Microscopy, and profilometry are fully discussed. It is shown that the composite material can be integrated into the archive box either as a stand-alone film or attached onto fitting carriers, for example, those made of corrugated board. By applying the PVA/GO membrane this way, even with strong daily temperature fluctuations of ΔT = ± 24.1 °C, strong external humidity fluctuations can be reduced by -87% inside the box. Furthermore, these humidity regulators were examined as Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) adsorbers since gas pollutants like formic acid, formaldehyde, acetic acid, and acetaldehyde are known to exist in museums and induce damages in the displayed or stored items. High rates of VOC adsorption have been measured, with the highest ones corresponding to formic acid (521% weight increase) and formaldehyde (223% weight increase).
