NMR Investigation into the Influence of Surface Interactions on Liquid Diffusion in a Mesoporous Catalyst Support

Pulsed field gradient NMR diffusion measurements provide a non-invasive measure of the mass transport (self-diffusion) characteristics of liquids confined to porous catalyst materials. Here we explore the ability of this technique to probe the diffusive behaviour of a series of short-chain primary alcohols within a mesoporous catalyst support material; through the comparison of our results with highly surface-sensitive NMR relaxation data, we show that the evaluation of bulk-pore diffusion dynamics may provide a simple and indirect method to access and explore surface interaction phenomena occurring at the catalyst-liquid interface.