Pulsed second order field NMR for real time PGSE and single-shot surface to volume ratio measurements

W C Kittler; S Obruchkov; P Galvosas; M W Hunter

doi:10.1016/j.jmr.2014.08.005

Pulsed second order field NMR for real time PGSE and single-shot surface to volume ratio measurements

J Magn Reson. 2014 Oct:247:42-49. doi: 10.1016/j.jmr.2014.08.005. Epub 2014 Aug 30.

Authors

W C Kittler¹, S Obruchkov², P Galvosas³, M W Hunter⁴

Affiliations

¹ MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand. Electronic address: wilfred.kittler@vuw.ac.nz.
² MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand. Electronic address: sergei.obruchkov@vuw.ac.nz.
³ MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand. Electronic address: petrik.galvosas@vuw.ac.nz.
⁴ MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand; Magritek Ltd., 32 Salamanca Rd., 6012 Wellington, New Zealand. Electronic address: mark.hunter@vuw.ac.nz.

PMID: 25238575
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmr.2014.08.005

Abstract

Pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance provides a powerful tool for the measurement of particle diffusion and mobility. When these particles are contained in a porous medium, the diffusive process is influenced by the pore boundaries, and their effect on diffusion measurements provides information about the pore space. The acquisition of the apparent diffusion coefficient and its dependence on time, in the short time limit, reveals the surface to volume ratio of the porous medium, and in the long time limit, its tortuosity. With conventional pulsed field gradient techniques, processes where pore boundaries are evolving on the sub-second time scale cannot be resolved. Using pulsed second order magnetic fields in conjunction with one-dimensional imaging and the pulse sequence Difftrain, this paper presents a proof of concept for the first ever real time single-shot surface to volume NMR measurement.

Keywords: Difftrain; Diffusion; Second order; Single-shot; Surface to volume; Tortuosity.