Hydroxide Nanoparticles for Deacidification and Concomitant Inhibition of Iron-Gall Ink Corrosion of Paper

This Article reports an investigation on the use of magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles dispersed in alcohols to inhibit two different and synergistic degradation processes usually affecting historically valuable manuscripts and, more generally, paper documents. We show that the preservation of paper from acid hydrolysis and oxidative ink corrosion can be achieved by stabilizing the final pH of deacidified paper around 6.5 to 7.5. Reactive magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles with a narrow size distribution, obtained by using a novel synthetic procedure, are very efficient in controlling paper's pH to avoid further degradation of cellulose from acid hydrolysis, oxidative ink corrosion, or both. The deacidification and antioxidant actions of magnesium hydroxide nanoparticles are compared with magnesium oxide particles present in one of the best mass deacidification methods (Bookkeeper).