Microemulsions, Micelles and Functional Gels. How Colloid and Soft Matter Preserve Works of Art

Colloid Science provides fundamental knowledge to fields such as pharmaceutical, detergency, paint and food industry. An exciting application is art conservation, which poses a challenge owing to the complex range of interfacial interactions involved in restoring artefacts. Currently, the majority of the most performing and environmentally safe cleaning and consolidation agents for artworks belong to soft matter and colloids. We report here on the development and application of increasingly complex systems, from microemulsions to semi-interpenetrating hydrogels containing such fluids. These systems have been used on diverse artefacts, from Renaissance frescos to works by Picasso and Pollock. Chemical design can be implemented to meet the requirements of curators, and knowledge of the colloids structure and dynamics can overcome serendipitous approaches of traditional conservation practice. Finally, we summarize future perspectives that soft matter and colloid science can disclose in the field of cultural heritage preservation.