Investigation of the effects of plasma treatments on biodeteriorated ancient paper

Deterioration of paper-based materials is mainly due to the degradation of cellulose caused by a lot of factors such as chemical attack due to acidic hydrolysis, oxidative agent, light, air pollution and biological attack and also due to the presence of microorganisms like bacteria and fungi. It is therefore desirable to focus the research activities on restoration and conservation techniques to develop appropriate treatments. The aim of this paper is the removal or reduction of the microbial contamination and paper consolidation by means of plasma treatment. For plasma processes, different gas mixtures are utilised, and the different gas mixtures are compared as a function of pressure, power, and treatment time. To demonstrate the efficiency of the sterilisation treatment, two fungi: Aspergillus niger and Penicillium funiculosum, commonly found in libraries and archives were spread on naturally aged paper (19th century). Microorganisms were let to grow by using the organic compounds found in the historical records as a sole source of carbon and energy. The microbial abatement was measured before and after the plasma treatment by using the standard plate count method. Surface chemical and morphological characterisation of paper before and after plasma treatment has been carried out by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ATR infrared spectroscopy (ATR FTIR). The tensile strength of the plasma-treated papers was also determined.