Nanostructured hydrated vanadium oxides (V2O5 center dot nH(2)O) are actively being researched for applications in energy storage, catalysis, and gas sensors. Recently, a one-step exfoliation technique for fabricating V2O5 center dot nH(2)O nano-sheets in aqueous media was reported; however, the underlying mechanism of exfoliation has been challenging to study. Herein, we followed the synthesis of V2O5 center dot nH(2)O nanosheets from the V2O5 and VO2 precursors in real using solution- and solid-state V-51 NMR. Solution-state V-51 NMR showed that the aqueous solution contained mostly the decavanadate anion [H2V10O28](4-) and the hydrated dioxova-nadate cation [VO2 center dot 4H(2)O](+), and during the exfoliation process, decavanadate was formed, while the amount of [VO2 center dot 4H(2)O](+) remained constant. The conversion of the solid precursor V2O5, which was monitored with solid-state V-51 NMR, was initiated when VO2 was in its monoclinic forms. The dried V2O5 center dot nH(2)O nanosheets were weakly paramagnetic because of a minor content of isolated V4+. Its solid-state V-51 signal was less than 20% of V2O5 and arose from diamagnetic V4+ or V5+.This study demonstrates the use of real-time NMR techniques as a powerful analysis tool for the exfoliation of bulk materials into nanosheets. A deeper understanding of this process will pave the way to tailor these important materials.

Carbon dioxide must be removed from biogas or natural gas to obtain compressed or liquefied methane, and adsorption-driven isolation of CO2 could be improved by developing new adsorbents. Zeolite adsorbents can select CO2 over CH4, and the adsorption of CH4 on zeolite vertical bar Na12-xKx vertical bar-A is significantly lower for samples with a high K+ content, i.e., x > 2. Nevertheless, we show, using H-1 NMR experiments, that these zeolites adsorb CH4 after long equilibration times. Pulsed-field gradient NMR experiments indicated that in large crystals of zeolites vertical bar Na12-xKx vertical bar-A, the long-time diffusion coefficients of CH4 did not vary with x, and the upper limit of the mean-square displacement was about 1.5 mu m, irrespective of the diffusion time. Also for zeolite vertical bar Na-12 vertical bar-A samples of three different particle sizes (similar to 0.44, similar to 2.9, and similar to 10.6 mu m), the upper limit of the mean-square displacement of CH4 was 1.5 mu m and largely independent of the diffusion time. This similarity provided further evidence for an intracrystalline diffusion restriction for CH4 within the medium- and large-sized zeolite A crystals and possibly of clustering and close contact among the small zeolite A crystals. The upper limit of the long-time diffusion coefficient of adsorbed CH4 was (at 1 atm and 298 K) about 10(-10) m(2)/s irrespective of the size of the zeolite particle or the studied content of K+ in zeolites and vertical bar Na-12 vertical bar-A. The T-1 relaxation time for adsorbed CH4 on zeolites vertical bar Na12-xKx vertical bar-A with x > 2 was smaller than for those with x < 2, indicating that the short-time diffusion of CH4 was hindered.

A colloidal dispersion of uniform organosilica nanoparticles could be produced via the disassembly of the non-surfactant-templated organosilica powder nanostructured folate material (NFM-1). This unusual reaction pathway was available because the folate and silica-containing moieties in NFM-1 are held together by noncovalent interactions. No precipitation was observed from the colloidal dispersion after a week, though particle growth occurred at a solvent-dependent rate that could be described by the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner equation. An organosilica film that was prepared from the colloidal dispersion adsorbed folate-binding protein from solution but adsorbed ions from a phosphate -buffered saline solution to a larger degree. To our knowledge, this is the first instance of a colloidal dispersion of organosilica nanoparticles being derived from a macroscopic material rather than from molecular precursors.

We investigated the hydride reduction of tetragonal BaTiO3 using the metal hydrides CaH2, NaH, MgH2, NaBH4, and NaAlH4. The reactions employed molar BaTiO3/H ratios of up to 1.8 and temperatures near 600 degrees C. The air-stable reduced products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and H-1 magic angle spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy. PXRD showed the formation of cubic products-indicative of the formation of BaTiO3-xHx. except for NaH. Lattice parameters were in a range between 4.005 angstrom (for NaBH4-reduced samples) and 4.033 A (for MgH2-reduced samples). With increasing H/BaTiO3 ratio, CaH2-, NaAlH4-, and MgH2-reduced samples were afforded as two-phase mixtures. TGA in air flow showed significant weight increases of up to 3.5% for reduced BaTiO3, suggesting that metal hydride reduction yielded oxyhydrides BaTiO3-xHx with x values larger than 0.5. H-1 MAS NMR spectroscopy, however, revealed rather low concentrations of H and thus a simultaneous presence of O vacancies in reduced BaTiO3. It has to be concluded that hydride reduction of BaTiO3 yields complex disordered materials BaTiO3-xHy square((x-y)) with x up to 0.6 and y in a range 0.04-0.25, rather than homogeneous solid solutions BaTiO3-xHx. Resonances of (hydridic) H substituting O in the cubic perovskite structure appear in the -2 to -60 ppm spectral region. The large range of negative chemical shifts and breadth of the signals signifies metallic conductivity and structural disorder in BaTiO3-xHy square((x-y)). Sintering of BaTiO3-xHy square((x-y)) in a gaseous H-2 atmosphere resulted in more ordered materials, as indicated by considerably sharper H-1 resonances.

There is a consensus about a long-term goal of a carbon-neutral energy cycle, but the CO2 emissions to the atmosphere are currently very large. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technologies could allow a transformation of the global energy system into a carbon-neutral one and simultaneously keeping the temperature rises within agreed bounds. The CO2 separation step of CCS is, however, very expensive, and adsorption-driven technologies have been put forward as alternatives. Hence, a recent focus has been on studying solid adsorbents for CO2, which include activated carbons, zeolites, metal-organic frameworks, and amine-modified silica. In this context, we summarize the literature concerning CO2 sorption studied with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), outline selected NMR methods, and present an outlook for further studies.

Pure-silica IZM-2 was synthesized for the first time, and the concentration of sodium hydroxide used during synthesis affected the phase purity and size of crystals. Most of the micropores in calcined pure silica IZM-2 that was synthesized in the presence of high concentrations of sodium hydroxide were inaccessible to N-2 adsorption; however, the micropores could be rendered accessible by applying either of two different post-synthetic treatments. Pure-silica IZM-2 could also be synthesized without sodium ions using the hydroxide version of the template. In this case, the micropores were accessible to N-2 directly after calcination. The size of pure-silica IZM-2 crystals obtained increased with the concentration of sodium hydroxide, with the highest concentrations giving spherical and micrometer-sized aggregates of pure-silica IZM-2 that consisted of intergrown particles (60-500 nm). The nature of the defects in pure-silica IZM-2 was studied with a combination of H-1, and Si-29 solid-state NMR spectroscopy. As expected, direct-polarization Si-29 NMR spectroscopy showed that the number of non-condensed silica groups decreased upon calcination. Calcined samples also showed broader Si-29 NMR bands for the fully condensed silica moieties, which indicated a broader distribution of bond angles and/or bond lengths. The siloxy and silanol groups in calcined pure-silica IZM-2 were accessible to protonation as determined by H-1 NMR spectroscopy. We could not determine the structure of pure-silica IZM-2 in its aggregated form; however, further studies of the synthetic conditions could yield larger, non-aggregated crystals that would facilitate structural determination.

Highly intergrown nanocrystals are commonly observed in zeolite samples, and the densely packed agglomerates may result in small secondary porosity, which restricts the advantage of hierarchical structures. In this work we take IZM-2 zeolite as an example to demonstrate a post-treatment method with diluted hydrofluoric acid solution, which de-agglomerates intergrown zeolite nanocrystals and improves the secondary porosity. The treated samples preserve high crystallinity, similar framework composition and distinctively higher external surface area compared to the agglomerated ones. The results show that this treatment is an effective method for de-agglomeration of intergrown nanocrystals without affecting the original framework.

This work examines the effect of the absolute pressure (0.1 or 1.0 MPa) and the addition of a high-ash rejected material from municipal solid waste (MSW) composting (RC) on the slow pyrolysis of two-phase olive mill waste (OW). The experiments were conducted in a batch pyrolysis system using an initial mass of 750 g of feedstock. Three types of initial materials were tested: the OW alone, a mixture of OW and pure additives (5 wt % K2CO3 and 5 wt % CaO), and a mixture of OW and RC (10 wt %). For the OW without any additive, an increased pressure led to a market increase in the carbonization efficiency (i.e., fixed carbon yield). At atmospheric pressure, the addition of either additives (CaO + K2CO3) or RC led to important changes in the pyrolysis behavior as a result of the catalytic role of the alkali and alkaline earth metals (AAEMs). However, this catalytic effect, which is translated into an enhancement of the decomposition of both the hemicellulose and cellulose fractions, was not observed at 1.0 MPa. The potential stability of all of the produced biochars appeared to be very high, given the results obtained from both proximate and ultimate analyses. This high stability was confirmed by C-13 and H-1 solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance, which showed that the carbon contained in the biochars was composed mainly or entirely of highly condensed aromatic structures. However, the highest values of stable C (Edinburgh stability tool) and R-50,R-x (recalcitrance index) were obtained for biochars produced from the OW + RC mixtures at any pressure. In summary, the addition of the rejected material from MSW composting appears to be a very cost-effective measure to obtain a potentially high-stable biochar, even at atmospheric pressure.

Polymorphic CaC2 was prepared by reacting mixtures of CaH2 and graphite with molar ratios between 1:1.8 and 1:2.2 at temperatures between 700 and 1400 degrees C under dynamic vacuum. These conditions provided a well controlled, homogeneous, chemical environment and afforded products with high purity. The products, which were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, solid state NMR and Raman spectroscopy, represented mixtures of the three known polymorphs, tetragonal CaC2-I and monoclinic CaC2-II and -III. Their proportion is dependent on the nominal C/CaH2 ratio of the reaction mixture and temperature. Reactions with excess carbon produced a mixture virtually free from CaC2-I, whereas high temperatures (above 1100 degrees C) and C-deficiency favored the formation of CaC2-I. From first principles calculations it is shown that CaC2-I is dynamically unstable within the harmonic approximation. This indicates that existing CaC2-I is structurally/dynamically disordered and may possibly even occur as slightly carbon-deficient phase CaC2-delta. It is proposed that monoclinic II is the ground state of CaC2 and polymorph III is stable at temperatures above 200 degrees C. Tetragonal I represents a metastable, heterogeneous, phase of CaC2. It is argued that a complete understanding of the occurrence of three room temperature modifications of CaC2 will require a detailed characterization of compositional and structural heterogeneities within the high temperature form CaC2-IV, which is stable above 450 degrees C. The effect of high pressure on the stability of the monoclinic forms of CaC2 was studied in a diamond anvil cell using Raman spectroscopy. CaC2-II and -III transform into tetragonal CaC2-I at about 4 and 1GPa, respectively.

We investigated the hydride reduction of tetragonal BaTiO₃ using the metal hydrides CaH₂, NaH, MgH₂, NaBH₄ and NaAlH₄. The reactions employed molar BaTiO₃:H ratios of up to 1.8 and temperatures near 600 °C. The air stable reduced products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and solid-state ¹H NMR spectroscopy. PXRD showed the formation of cubic products - indicative of the formation of BaTiO_3-xH_x - except for NaH. Lattice parameters were in a range between 4.005 Å (for NaBH₄ reduces samples) and 4.033 Å (for MgH₂ reduced samples). With increasing BaTiO₃:H ratio, CaH₂, NaAlH₄ and MgH₂ reduced samples were afforded as two-phase mixtures. TGA in air flow showed significant weight increase of up to 3.5 % for reduced BaTiO₃, suggesting that metal hydride reduction yielded oxyhydrides BaTiO_3-xH_x with x values larger 0.5. ¹H NMR, however, revealed rather low concentrations of H, and, thus a simultaneous presence of O vacancies in reduced BaTiO₃. It has to be concluded that hydride reduction of BaTiO₃ yields complex disordered materials BaTiO_3-xH_y□_(x-y) with x up to 0.6, y in a range 0.05 – 0.2 and (x-y) > y, rather than homogeneous solid solutions BaTiO₃H_x. Resonances of (hydridic) H substituting O in the cubic perovskite structure appear in the -2 to -60 ppm spectral region. The large range of chemical shifts and breadth of the signals signifies the structural disorder in BaTiO_3-xH_y□_(x-y). Sintering of BaTiO_3-xH_y□_(x-y) in a gaseous H₂ atmosphere resulted in more ordered materials as indicated by considerably sharper ¹H resonances.