Contemporary golden-like lusters on ceramics:: Morphological, chemical, and structural properties

This paper describes an investigation on contemporary luster layers produced by a Spanish craftsman who is working on reproducing the traditional Islamic recipes. Various analytical investigations (AFM, HR-SEM, PIXE, RBS, TEM, XPS, GIXRD) were carried out. The aim of this study is to establish the chemical nature and physical structure of the luster layer constituted by silver and copper particles of nanometric dimensions. This information is used to expand on a formation model of a luster layer.