The Effect of Disorder on Endogenous MAS-DNP: Study of Silicate Glasses and Crystals

Endogenous metal-ion dynamic nuclear polarization for NMR signal enhancement in metal organic frameworks

Rational design of metal-organic framework (MOF)-based materials for catalysis, gas capture and storage, requires deep understanding of the host-guest interactions between the MOF and the adsorbed molecules. Solid-State NMR spectroscopy is an established tool for obtaining such structural information, however its low sensitivity limits its application. This limitation can be overcome with dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) which is based on polarization transfer from unpaired electrons to the nuclei of interest and, as a result, enhancement of the NMR signal. Typically, DNP is achieved by impregnating or wetting the MOF material with a solution of nitroxide biradicals, which prevents or interferes with the study of host-guest interactions. Here we demonstrate how Gd(iii) ions doped into the MOF structure, LaBTB (BTB = 4,4',4''-benzene-1,3,5-triyl-trisbenzoate), can be employed as an efficient polarization agent, yielding up to 30-fold 13C signal enhancement for the MOF linkers, while leaving the pores empty for potential guests. Furthermore, we demonstrate that ethylene glycol, loaded into the MOF as a guest, can also be polarized using our approach. We identify specific challenges in DNP studies of MOFs, associated with residual oxygen trapped within the MOF pores and the dynamics of the framework and its guests, even at cryogenic temperatures. To address these, we describe optimal conditions for carrying out and maximizing the enhancement achieved in DNP-NMR experiments. The approach presented here can be expanded to other porous materials which are currently the state-of-the-art in energy and sustainability research.

Dynamic nuclear polarisation of 1H in Gd-doped In(OH)3

Dynamic nuclear polarisation (DNP) of solids doped with high-spin metal ions, such as Gd3+, is a useful strategy to enhance the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) sensitivity for these samples. Spin diffusion can relay polarisation throughout a sample, which is most effective for dense 1H networks, while the efficiency of DNP using Gd3+ depends on the symmetry of the metal site. Here, we investigate cubic In(OH)3 as a high-symmetry, proton-containing material for endogenous Gd DNP. A 1H enhancement of up to 9 is demonstrated and harnessed to measure the 17O spectrum at natural abundance. The enhancement is interpreted in terms of clustering of the Gd3+ dopants and the local reduction in symmetry of the metal site induced by proton disorder, as demonstrated by quadrupolar 115In NMR. This is the first example of 1H DNP using Gd3+ dopants in an inorganic solid.

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization of Inorganic Halide Perovskites

The intrinsic low sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments limits their utility for structure determination of materials. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) under magic angle spinning (MAS) has shown tremendous potential to overcome this key limitation, enabling the acquisition of highly selective and sensitive NMR spectra. However, so far, DNP methods have not been explored in the context of inorganic lead halide perovskites, which are a leading class of semiconductor materials for optoelectronic applications. In this work, we study cesium lead chloride and quantitatively compare DNP methods based on impregnation with a solution of organic biradicals with doping of high-spin metal ions (Mn²⁺) into the perovskite structure. We find that metal-ion DNP provides the highest bulk sensitivity in this case, while highly surface-selective NMR spectra can be acquired using impregnation DNP. The performance of both methods is explained in terms of the relaxation times, particle size, dopant concentration, and surface wettability. We envisage the future use of DNP NMR approaches in establishing structure-activity relationships in inorganic perovskites, especially for mass-limited samples such as thin films.