From the RMS Titanic to the SS Endurance, shipwrecks offer valuable—yet swiftly deteriorating—windows into the past. Conservators slowly dry marine wooden artifacts to preserve them, but doing so can inflict damage. To better care for delicate marine artifacts, researchers in ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering developed a new hydrogel that quickly neutralizes harmful acids and stabilizes waterlogged wood from an 800-year-old shipwreck.

The researchers began by mixing two polymers with potassium bicarbonate, an acid-neutralizing compound, and silver nitrate, which forms antimicrobial nanoparticles that link the polymers together to form a gel. By adjusting the amount of silver nitrate, they were able to create hydrogels with different staying power. Gels with less silver liquified after 3–5 days, and those with more silver remained a gooey solid.