%0 Journal Article
%A Mondelli, C.
%A Sánchez del Río, Manuel
%A González González, Miguel Ángel
%A Magazzú, Alessandro
%A Cavallari, Chiara
%A Súarez Barrios, Mercedes
%A García Romero, Emilia
%A Romano, P.
%T Role of water on formation and structural features of Mayablue
%D 2012
%@ 1742-6588
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/43846
%X The Maya blue (MB) is an artificial pigment created between 500-800 A.D. andused in murals, pottery and sculptures by Mayas and other people in Mesoamerica. MB isresistant to age, acid, weathering, biodegradation and even modern chemical solvents, but thechemical reasons behind the resistance to chemical aggressions are still under debate. Waterplays a fundamental role in the interactions between indigo and clay. The dynamics of theclay’s zeolitic and structural water molecules during the formation of MB, usually stabilized bymoderate heating, has been monitored by means of neutron inelastic scattering. Neutronincoherent scattering in these samples is only due to the hydrogen atoms, so the signal is verysensitive to the amount of released water, providing detailed information on the dehydrationprocess. A simultaneous analysis of the coherent elastic scattering and the incoherent scatteringallows observing and quantifying how the structure of the clay is affected by dehydration. Herewe show that a quite resistant pigment can be obtained at room temperature simply bydehydrating a palygorskite-indigo mixture employing only vacuum, without any thermaltreatment.
%~