Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T23:48:03.106Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An Examination of the Surface and Sub-Surface of Modern and Historical Platinum Photographic Prints Using Low Vacuum High-Resolution Scanning Electron Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2016

Patrick Ravines ,
Natasha Erdman  and
Rob McElroy
Patrick Ravines*
Affiliation:
Art Conservation Department, State University of New York College at Buffalo, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Rockwell Hall 230, Buffalo, NY 14222, USA
Natasha Erdman
Affiliation:
JEOL USA Inc., Peabody, MA 01960, USA
Rob McElroy
Affiliation:
Archive Studio, 347 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202, USA
*
*Corresponding author. [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Photographic prints of platinum metal on paper supports are some of the most exquisite and expressive in the world of fine art photography. Platinum prints were produced from about 1890 to 1920 in the USA and Europe. The chemical and material nature of these valuable prints is of great interest to many who are interested in their long-term preservation, in the intersection of science and art, and in the scientific and technical study of cultural heritage. This paper presents the results of a characterization study using newer electron microscopy techniques. In this study, a low vacuum high-resolution scanning electron microscope was used to study the surface and sub-surface of historic and modern platinum and/or palladium print samples. Using environmental SEM pressures allowed us to investigate the actual top surface and sub-surface with cross-sections without any preparation; no coatings of carbon or other material. Cross-sections were prepared using an argon plasma cross-polishing system. This study shows that the photographic image of platinum prints is composed of platinum nanoparticles embedded in the upper layers of the paper’s cellulosic fibers.

Keywords

Platinum/palladium photographic printsimage nanoparticleslow vacuum scanning electron microscopeargon plasma cross-polisher
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 22 , Issue 4 , August 2016 , pp. 857 - 864
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bartels, K.S. (2008). From the ‘Director’s Foreword’. In Truth Beauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945, Padon T. (Ed.), p. 16. Vancouver: Douglas McIntyre.Google Scholar
Clarke, M., McCabe, C. & Maines, C. (2014). Unraveling the modified surface of the photographic paper ‘Japine’. Anal Methods 6, 147–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, M., McCabe, C., Maines, C., Centeno, S., Barro, L. & Vila, A. (2015). An investigation into Japine platinum photographs: William Willis’s proprietary papers. J Am Inst Conserv 54(4), 213–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Erdman, N., Campbell, R. & Asahina, S. (2006). Precise SEM cross section polishing via argon beam milling. Microsc Today 14(3), 22–25.Google Scholar
Han, S.O. & Choi, H.Y. (2010). Morphology and surface properties of natural fiber treated with electron beam. In Microscopy: Science, Technology, Applications and Education vol. 3. A. Mendez-Vilas & J. Diaz (Eds.), pp. 1880–1887. Bajadoz, Spain: FORMATEX.Google Scholar
Jiang, J., Hall, T.D., Tsagalas, L., Hill, D.A. & Miller, A.E. (2006). Photographic production of metal nano-particles for fuel cell electrodes. J Power Sources 162, 977–984.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, J. & Miller, A.E. (2007). Improved photographic production of Pt nano-particles for fuel cell electrodes. J Power Sources 173, 867–876.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Narayanan, R. & El-Sayed, M.A. (2005). Raman studies on the interaction of the reactants with the platinum nanoparticle surface during the nanocatalyzed electron transfer reaction. J Phys Chem B 109(39), 18460–18464.Google Scholar
Nordstrom, A. & Wooters, D. (2008). Crafting the art of the photograph. In Truth Beauty, Thomas Padon (Ed.), p. 33. Vancouver: Douglas McIntyre.Google Scholar
Ogura, K., Kamidaira, M., Asahina, S. & Erdman, N. (2007). New methods for cross-section sample preparation using broad argon ion beam. Microsc Microanal 13(Suppl 2), 1518CD.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, M. (2001). The effects of aqueous immersion wash treatments on platinum photographs. Top Photogr Pres 9, 103–114.Google Scholar
Relvas, C., Nunes, M., Figueira, F., Campelo, J., Candeias, A., Caldeira, A.T. & Ferreira, T. (2015). Multi-analytical characterization of paper samples exhibiting foxing stains. Microsc Microanal 21(Suppl 6), 78–79.Google Scholar
Stulik, D. & Kaplan, A. (2013). Platinotype. In The Atlas of Analytical Signatures of Photographic Processes, Stulik D. & Kaplan A. (Eds.), pp. 5–39. Los Angeles, CA: Getty Conservation Institute. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/10020/gci_pubs/atlas_analytical (retrieved April 13, 2015).Google Scholar
Ware, M. (1986). An investigation of platinum and palladium printing. J Photographic Sci 34, pp. 165–177.Google Scholar