Mapping contaminant capture by magnetic nano-bots in wood from the Mary Rose hull

The Mary Rose, is a priceless historic relic that is preserved in Portsmouth, UK, by the Mary Rose Trust. Using computed tomography pair distribution function analysis (ctPDF) we mapped the locations, phase, composition and morphology of nano-contaminants (recently published in Matter). The crucial next stage of conservation is to develop methods to remove the harmful contaminants. We have demonstrated a remediation whereby magnetic nanoparticles are functionalized to capture a contaminant, soaked into the wood, then pulled out using magnetic fields. No information is known about where the nanoparticles penetrate into the wood, what features constitute barriers to their incursion, how effective they are at removing contaminants, and whether they are all removed during the harvesting process. We will use ctPDF to obtain a ‘time-lapse view’ of this process using ex situ ctPDFplus fluorescence tomography from a set of samples at various stages of the process.