Publication: Role of water on formation and structural features of Maya
blue
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Publication Date
2012
Authors
Mondelli, C.
Sánchez del Río, Manuel
Magazzú, Alessandro
Cavallari, Chiara
Súarez Barrios, Mercedes
Romano, P.
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Publisher
Institute of Physics Publishing
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Abstract
The Maya blue (MB) is an artificial pigment created between 500-800 A.D. and
used in murals, pottery and sculptures by Mayas and other people in Mesoamerica. MB is
resistant to age, acid, weathering, biodegradation and even modern chemical solvents, but the
chemical reasons behind the resistance to chemical aggressions are still under debate. Water
plays a fundamental role in the interactions between indigo and clay. The dynamics of the
clay’s zeolitic and structural water molecules during the formation of MB, usually stabilized by
moderate heating, has been monitored by means of neutron inelastic scattering. Neutron
incoherent scattering in these samples is only due to the hydrogen atoms, so the signal is very
sensitive to the amount of released water, providing detailed information on the dehydration
process. A simultaneous analysis of the coherent elastic scattering and the incoherent scattering
allows observing and quantifying how the structure of the clay is affected by dehydration. Here
we show that a quite resistant pigment can be obtained at room temperature simply by
dehydrating a palygorskite-indigo mixture employing only vacuum, without any thermal
treatment.