SCIART: Microanalytical and Non-Invasive Approaches for the Investigation of Works of Art by Surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS)

在化学测量和成像计划的支持下（通过SciArt征集），大都会艺术博物馆的Marco Leona博士和纽约市立大学的John Lombardi博士正在设计识别艺术作品中存在的材料的方法-无机和有机材料的复杂组合，通常具有未知的历史。 这项工作对于了解历史和改善艺术品的保护至关重要。 该问题是具有挑战性的，因为许多感兴趣的材料（例如，来源、归属和使用历史的标记物）的浓度非常低，并且/或者受到降解过程的影响。严格的抽样限制使这项工作更加复杂。 该团队正在将表面增强拉曼光谱（Sers）用于有机着色剂的鉴定，这是纺织品，绘画和其他多色艺术品中发现的重要一类艺术家材料。具体来说，他们正在开发灵敏和可重复的Sers基底和新的样品制备方法，并使用宽带可调谐激光器实现共振激发以提高灵敏度。他们正在研究与实验吸附测量并行的计算建模，以解决影响Sers的重要问题，例如密切相关的染料之间的响应变化和干扰化合物的影响。 正在开发的高灵敏度非破坏性技术应具有超出文化遗产研究范围的适用性，如生物化学，制药，环境和法医学以及国土安全等领域。 对表面增强Sers现象的进一步理解将有助于阐明电磁和化学对表面增强Sers机制的相对重要性。因此，这项工作将通过提高对艺术品和文化遗产的理解和保护产生广泛的影响;通过艺术保护和艺术史研究的案例研究，加强对本科生、研究生和博士后化学家的跨学科研究培训;通过将科学成果纳入博物馆出版物和公共项目，开展科学宣传。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program (via the SciArt solicitation), Drs. Marco Leona of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and John Lombardi of CUNY are devising means of identifying the materials present in works of art - complex assemblages of inorganic and organic materials, often with unknown histories. The work is essential to understanding the history and improving the conservation of artworks. The problem is challenging because many materials of interest (e.g., markers for provenance, attribution, and use history) are present in very low concentrations and/or are affected by degradation processes. Strict sampling limitations further complicate the undertaking. The team is adapting surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) for the identification of organic colorants, an important class of artists' materials found in textiles, paintings, and other polychrome works of art. Specifically, they are developing sensitive and reproducible SERS substrates and new sample preparation methods, and using a broadband tunable laser to enable resonant excitation for increased sensitivity. They are investigating computational modeling in parallel with experimental adsorption measurements to address important problems affecting SERS, such as variations in response among closely related dyes and the influence of interfering compounds. The high-sensitivity non-destructive techniques being developed should have applicability beyond the confines of cultural heritage research, in areas such as biochemical, pharmaceutical, environmental, and forensic, and homeland security. The increased understanding of the SERS phenomenon will be helpful in elucidating the relative importance of electromagnetic and chemical contributions to the SERS mechanism. The work will thus have broad impact through improved understanding and conservation of works of art and cultural heritage; enhanced cross-disciplinary research training for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral chemists with case studies from art conservation and art historical studies; and science outreach through inclusion of scientific results in museum publications and public programs.