Abstract
The protection of the stone materials represents an ongoing challenge in the field of conservation of cultural heritage. Protective coatings are used to make the stone more resistant against pollutants, biological growths and especially against the action of water. In last decades, nanoparticles were synthetized and tested to improve the performance of such coatings. In this review, two main enhanced coatings are reported: superhydrophobic coatings and photocatalytic coatings. The first ones have a very low adhesion, so dirty, pollutants and colonies of microorganisms can be easily “washed out” by the water. Photocatalytic coatings are able to oxidize organic matter on their surface, thanks to the combination of light and photocatalyst. The state-of-art of both technologies are discussed with advantages and drawbacks.
Highlights
In the field of restoration and conservation of cultural heritage, the protection of stone materials plays a crucial role
Based on the features provided by the nanoparticles, these innovative coatings con be grouped in superhydrophobic coatings and photocatalytic coatings
In this review it has been described the use of nanoparticles to improve the performance of coatings for the protection of stone materials
Summary
In the field of restoration and conservation of cultural heritage, the protection of stone materials plays a crucial role. Cappitelli and co-workers (Cappitelli et al, 2007) have carried out a study on the Cathedral of Milan, and the shown that the synthetic coatings poly-laurylmethacrylate and polyisobutylmethacrylate can induce damage to the monument since they represent a favorable organic substrate for biological growth. Regarding air pollution, their impact on built heritage have been extensively studied in several case studies (La Russa et al, 2013; Barca et al, 2014; Ruffolo et al, 2015; Comite et al, 2017). Aging tests performed on protective coatings against air pollutants on porous limestone have highlighted the decreasing of protective effect over time (Camaiti et al, 2007; Torrisi, 2008)
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