The preservation of cultural heritage materials requires extremely low concentration limits for indoor pollutants. This poses an unmet challenge for monitoring the artwork in museums and on exhibit, especially to do so in a cost-effective manner for a large number of locations. A novel type of colorimetric sensor array based on printed inks of 10 nm silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with several different capping agents has been developed as an alternative to metal coupons or other passive sampling indicators traditionally used by conservators. The AgNP colorimetric sensor array, combined with digital imaging, offers ultrasensitive dosimetric identification of acidic and oxidizing gases and other air pollutants commonly found in a museum; the limits of detection are sub-ppb for 1 h exposures. For an array of AgNP inks with various capping agents, a unique and distinguishable color response pattern is observed for each specific analyte. Excellent discrimination among 11 gas pollutants over a wide range of concentrations was demonstrated using standard chemometric methods. The observed changes in color during pollutant exposure originate from the sintering of solid-state nanoparticles that leads to changes in the localized surface plasmon resonance. Such chemically induced sintering mechanism of nanoparticles paves the way for a new class of field-deployable solid-state optical sensor arrays. As an example, we have demonstrated the use of AgNP sensor arrays for the nondestructive analysis of acidic volatile emission from five types of printing paper, relevant for the conservation of cultural heritage objects, including ancient manuscripts and books.

中文翻译：

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使用银纳米颗粒传感器阵列对博物馆的空气污染物进行超灵敏监测。

文化遗产材料的保护要求室内污染物的浓度极低。这对于监视博物馆和展览品中的艺术品提出了一项尚未解决的挑战，尤其是要以经济有效的方式在众多地点进行监视。已经开发出一种新型的比色传感器阵列，该比色传感器阵列基于具有几种不同封端剂的10 nm银纳米粒子（AgNP）的印刷油墨，可以替代传统上由储油柜使用的金属试样或其他被动采样指示器。AgNP比色传感器阵列与数字成像相结合，可对博物馆中常见的酸性和氧化性气体以及其他空气污染物进行超灵敏的剂量识别；1 h暴露的检测极限为低于ppb。对于具有各种封端剂的一系列AgNP油墨，对于每种特定的分析物，观察到一个独特且可区分的颜色响应模式。使用标准化学计量学方法证明了在多种浓度范围内对11种气体污染物的出色区分。在污染物暴露期间观察到的颜色变化源自固态纳米颗粒的烧结，这导致局部表面等离子体激元共振的变化。纳米粒子的这种化学诱导的烧结机理为新型的可现场部署的固态光学传感器阵列铺平了道路。例如，我们已经证明了使用AgNP传感器阵列对来自五种类型的印刷纸的酸性挥发物排放物的无损分析，这些印刷物与文化遗产（包括古代手稿和书籍）的保存有关。