NMR investigations of nanostructured ceramics

Nanostructured mesoporous silicates displaying hexagonally arranged channels, templated using a liquid crystal mesophase, were investigated using H‐2 and N‐15 NMR spectroscopy. It is shown that N‐15 MAS NMR spectroscopy allows to estimate the surface acidity of mesoporous materials by measuring the N‐H bond length via the N‐15 chemical shift. Further, H‐2 and N‐15 NMR spectroscopy identify significant differences between the structure of the surface area of HI, silica and MCM‐41. Static N‐15 NMR spectroscopy was used to differentiate between pyridine located in channels perpendicular to the magnetic field from, for example, pyridine located in channels orientated parallel to the field. This observation offers the possibility of separating the NMR signals and thus pursuiting the goal of “liquid phase single crystal NMR spectroscopy”.