Luster Pottery from the Thirteenth Century to the Sixteenth Century: A Nanostructured Thin Metallic Film |
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| Authors: | Josefina Pé rez-Arantegui,Judit Molera,Angel Larrea,Trinitat Pradell,Marius Vendrell-Saz,Ilaria Borgia,Brunetto G. Brunetti,Franco Cariati,Paola Fermo,Marcello Mellini,Antonio Sgamellotti,Cecilia Viti |
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| Affiliation: | Departamento de Química Analítica, Universidad de Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain;;Departament de Cristal.lografia i Mineralogia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain;;Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón, Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC, 50015 Zaragoza, Spain;;ESAB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08026 Barcelona, Spain;Dipartimento di Chimica, Universita' di Perugia, 06123 Perugia, Italy;;Dipartimento CIMA, Universita' di Milano, 20133 Milano, Italy;and;Dipartimento di Scienza delle Terra, Universita' di Siena, 53100 Siena, Italy |
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| Abstract: | Luster is a decorative metallic film that was applied on the surface of medieval glazed pottery. It can be obtained via the low-temperature (∼650°C), controlled reduction of copper and silver compounds. In this paper, we show that luster is a thin layered film (200–500 nm thick) that contains metallic spherical nanocrystals dispersed in a silicon-rich matrix and has a metal-free outermost glassy layer that is 10–20 nm thick. Silver nanocrystals seem to be separated from those of copper, forming aggregates 5–100 μm in diameter. This composite structure exhibits optical properties that are dependent on both the particle size and the matrix. Luster is indeed the first reproducible nanostructured thin metallic film that was made by humans. |
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| Keywords: | thin films optical materials/properties microstructure |
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