New advances in porous materials characterisation using low-field NMR

Porous materials are employed across chemical, energy and environmental applications as diverse as catalysis, separations, hydrogen storage and battery development; however, understanding – and hence optimising – the behaviour of fluids within these structures remains highly challenging due to their optically opaque nature, and through the dominance of buried solid-fluid interfaces.

This project aims to advance low magnetic field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) approaches for the study and characterisation of such functional porous materials, with a particular focus on NMR relaxation time measurements of confined liquids, which have emerged as an intriguing non-invasive approach for pore structure and/or interfacial characterisation efforts [1-4]. This methodology is expected to be particularly applicable to the study of confined oxygenated hydrocarbons, which are regularly employed as solvents and reagents in liquid-phase catalytic processes, including during the production of low-carbon fuels from waste. However, to date, such approaches have been successfully demonstrated for only a limited array of probe fluids interacting with simple oxide surfaces [1-3]. This project aims to expand the remit of such techniques across solid-fluid systems exhibiting complex interfacial chemistry, including those exhibiting hydrophobic covalent modifications and deposited metallic and paramagnetic surface species, as well as those undergoing competitive co-adsorption and displacement processes.

The outcomes of this project will establish new NMR-based measurement capabilities and approaches for the study of green chemical systems and targeted materials for the advancement of Net Zero goals.

Funding for this project is for 3 years and applicants should contact [email protected] for any queries related to the project. 

Applications will only be considered if they are submitted via the QUB Direct Application portal https://myportal.qub.ac.uk/SignIn?ReturnUrl=%2Fpg-admission-application-list%2F