Preventing fungal growth on heritage paper with antifungal and cellulase inhibiting magnesium oxide nanoparticles

Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae and moulds are highly proficient at colonizing artistic and architectural heritage. The irreparable damage they cause to unique artefacts results in immeasurable cultural and societal losses to our shared cultural heritage, which represent an important s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. B, Materials for biology and medicine Materials for biology and medicine, 2019-10, Vol.7 (41), p.6412-6419
Main Authors: Franco Castillo, Isabel, Garca Guilln, Esther, de la Fuente, Jess, Silva, Filomena, Mitchell, Scott G
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Antifungal agents
Archives & records
Biodeterioration
Cellulase
Cellulose
Colonization
Cultural heritage
Cultural resources
Electron microscopy
Fungi
Fungicides
Historic artifacts
Magnesium
Magnesium oxide
Microorganisms
Nanomaterials
Nanoparticles
Nanotechnology
Superconductors (materials)
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Summary:Microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, algae and moulds are highly proficient at colonizing artistic and architectural heritage. The irreparable damage they cause to unique artefacts results in immeasurable cultural and societal losses to our shared cultural heritage, which represent an important social and economic resource for Europe. With the overall aim of preventing fungal deterioration of paper artefacts, we report the use of magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO NPs) of average diameter 12 nm as potent antifungal agents against fungi commonly found colonising paper heritage: A. niger , C. cladosporioides and T. reesei . Dispersions of MgO NPs on original 18th century paper samples from the Archives of the Spanish Royal Botanic Garden were effective at preventing fungal colonisation without altering the appearance of the paper artefacts. Importantly, MgO NPs also inhibit cellulase activity in the filamentous fungi T. resei and A. niger , two of the principle biodeteriogens of cellulosic materials. In addition, our report provides three simple new procedures for studying the fungal colonisation prevention properties of nanomaterials on paper samples. Overall this opens the door to the use of colourless, low-cost, and scalable nanomaterials for preventing biodeterioration in cellulose-based artefacts. Magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO NPs) as a colourless antifungal treatment with anti-cellulase activity to prevent biodeterioration of paper-based heritage objects.
ISSN:2050-750X
2050-7518
DOI:10.1039/c9tb00992b