Diffusion, that is, the irregular movement of atoms and molecules, is a universal phenomenon of mass transfer occurring in all states of matter. It is of equal importance for fundamental research and technological applications. The present review deals with the challenges of the reliable observation of these phenomena in nanoporous materials. Starting with a survey of the different variants of diffusion measurement, it highlights the potentials of "microscopic" techniques, notably the pulsed field gradient (PFG) technique of NMR and the techniques of microimaging by interference microscopy (IFM) and IR microscopy (IRM). Considering ensembles of guest molecules, these techniques are able to directly record mass transfer phenomena over distances of typically micrometers. Their concerted application has given rise to the clarification of long-standing discrepancies, notably between microscopic equilibrium and macroscopic non-equilibrium measurements, and to a wealth of new information about molecular transport under confinement, hitherto often inaccessible and sometimes even unimaginable.
Keywords: diffusion; mass transfer; microimaging; nanoporous materials; nmr spectroscopy.
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