Journal
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
Volume 11, Issue 30, Pages 27288-27296Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b04912
Keywords
dewetting; micelles; microemulsions; art conservation; polymer films; fluorescence correlation spectroscopy
Funding
- Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research
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The removal of hydrophobic polymer coatings from artistic surfaces is a ubiquitous challenge in art restoration. Over the years, nanostructured fluids (NSFs), aqueous surfactant solutions containing a good solvent for the polymer, have been successfully applied in polymer removal interventions; however, the precise role of the surfactant in promoting polymer film dewetting is not fully understood. This contribution addresses the interaction of a NSF of water/propylene carbonate containing a nonionic surfactant with an acrylic polymer film commonly used in art conservation. Combining confocal microscopy and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, we monitored the penetration of the fluid into the polymer film, defining its compositional changes and following the polymer swelling. The ensemble of results highlights that the surfactant role is twofold: (i) at the polymer-support interface, it promotes the detachment of the polymer film from the underlying support; (ii) inside the polymer film, it accelerates polymer swelling by increasing the chains' mobility.
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