In March 2023, we performed x-ray Raman scattering experiments at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (beamline ID-20). The MSCA fellow, Dr. Rafaella Georgiou, together with Giulia Caroti (University of Pisa) and Dr. Silvia Pizzimenti (University of Pisa) performed XRS experiments on model paint samples to decipher the carbon chemistry of mixed media paints. XRS possesses the sensitivity of x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) to the chemical environment of the absorbing atom and provides information on its chemical bonding and oxidation state. We employed x-ray Raman scattering (XRS) spectroscopy at the carbon K-edge, as a bulk-sensitive probe of the chemical speciation of oil-protein mixtures in model systems including oil, tempera (egg yolk and egg white), tempera grassa and protein coated paints.
