Preventing fungal growth in wood by titanium dioxide nanoparticles

Fungi play a considerable role in the deterioration of cultural heritage, as their contamination favours the decay of the materials used for historical art objects. Fungus prevention, the treatment of contaminated objects and their successive conservation are important items to restorers. Over the past decade, nanotechnology has been applied in several fields of cultural heritage conservation in order to prevent, for example, the chemical degradation of mural paintings and paper acidity. Nevertheless, nanomaterials have, not been yet used as antifungal and biocidal agents for wood handworks. In this work we have treated eight different types of wood, some of which are commonly used in the field of cultural heritage, with a solution of titanium dioxide nanoparticles and placed them in contact with two species of fungi, Hypocrea lixii (white-rot) and Mucor circinelloides (brown-rot), which are known to be responsible for a fast decay of wood. Results show that the photo-catalytic activity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles prevents the fungal colonization of wood samples over long time when compared to untreated ones. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.