Binding of Monovalent and Multivalent Metal Cations to Polyethylene Oxide in Methanol Probed by Electrophoretic and Diffusion NMR.

Complex formation in methanol between monodisperse polyethylene oxide (PEO) and a large set of cations was studied by measuring the effective charge acquired by PEO upon complexation. Quantitative data were obtained at a low ionic strength of 2 mM (for some salts, also between 0.5 and 6 mM) by a combination of diffusion nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electrophoretic NMR experiments. For strongly complexing cations, the magnitude of the acquired effective charge was on the order of 1 cation per 100 monomer units. For monovalent cations, the relative strength of binding varies as Na+ < K+ ≈ Rb+ ≈ Cs+, whereas Li+ exhibited no significant binding. All polyvalent cations bind very weakly, except for Ba2+ that exhibited strong binding. Anions do not bind, as is shown by the lack of response to the chemical nature of anionic species (perchlorate, iodide, or acetate). Diffusion experiments directly show that the acetate anion with monovalent cations does not associate with PEO. Considering all cations, we find that the observed binding does not follow any Hofmeister order. Instead, binding occurs below a critical surface charge density, which indicates that the degree of complexation is defined by the solvation shell. A large solvation shell prevents the binding of most multivalent ions.

Ion association in aqueous and non-aqueous solutions probed by diffusion and electrophoretic NMR.

The results of diffusion and electrophoretic NMR (eNMR) measurements are reported for a series of tetramethylammonium (TMA) electrolytes (with sulphate, fluoride, acetate, chloride, bromide, nitrate, iodide and perchlorate as anions) in deuterated solvents such as water, dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile, methanol and ethanol. In addition, similar data are presented for aqueous solutions of tetraalkylammonium salts with increasing alkyl chain length. The combination of diffusion NMR and eNMR yields the effective charge for the TMA cation. Relative to the nominal charge of znom = 1 of TMA, the effective charge in the different solvents is found to be progressively smaller in the order water > DMSO > methanol > acetonitrile > ethanol. A part of this observed trend is ascribed to regular ion-ion interactions incorporated in the Onsager limiting law. Indeed, in solvents with high dielectric constants such as water, DMSO and methanol, the Onsager limiting law describes well the observations for all tetraalkylammonium ions. For ethanol and acetonitrile, there is a significant difference between the experimental data and the expected limiting-law behavior that is attributed to ion association (ion pairing) not taken into consideration by the Onsager limiting law.

Quantifying mass transport during polarization in a Li ion battery electrolyte by in situ 7Li NMR imaging.

Poor mass transport in the electrolyte of Li ion batteries causes large performance losses in high-power applications such as vehicles, and the determination of transport properties under or near operating conditions is therefore important. We demonstrate that in situ (7)Li NMR imaging in a battery electrolyte can directly capture the concentration gradients that arise when current is applied. From these, the salt diffusivity and Li(+) transport number are obtained within an electrochemical transport model. Because of the temporal, spatial, and chemical resolution it can provide, NMR imaging will be a versatile tool for evaluating electrochemical systems and methods.

Ion pairing in ethanol/water solution probed by electrophoretic and diffusion NMR.

We demonstrate that a combination of electrophoretic NMR and diffusion NMR experiments can measure the average charge carried by ions in solution. This average charge is used as a quantitative indicator of ion pairing. Our results show that there is a Hofmeister relation in the ion pairing between monovalent anions and the tetramethylammonium cation in 95% ethanol/water solution. The ion pairing of the divalent sulfate ion was larger than that shown by any of the monovalent anions.

Molecular complexation and binding studied by electrophoretic NMR spectroscopy.

Electrophoretic mobilities obtained on a molecularly selective manner by electrophoretic NMR can be used to provide a quantitative characterization of the composition and stoichiometry of molecular complexes. This is demonstrated in complexes formed by uncharged cyclodextrins which attain an electrophoretic mobility upon inclusion of charged surfactants.

Sensitive and robust electrophoretic NMR: instrumentation and experiments.

Although simple as a concept, electrophoretic NMR (eNMR) has so far failed to find wider application. Problems encountered are mainly due to disturbing and partly irreproducible convection-like bulk flow effects from both electro-osmosis and thermal convection. Additionally, bubble formation at the electrodes and rf noise pickup has constrained the typical sample geometry to U-tube-like arrangements with a small filling factor and a low resulting NMR sensitivity. Furthermore, the sign of the electrophoretic mobility cancels out in U-tube geometries. We present here a new electrophoretic sample cell based on a vertically placed conventional NMR sample tube with bubble-suppressing palladium metal as electrode material. A suitable radiofrequency filter design prevents noise pickup by the NMR sample coil from the high-voltage leads which extend into the sensitive sample volume. Hence, the obtained signal-to-noise ratio of this cell is one order of magnitude higher than that of our previous U-tube cells. Permitted by the retention of the sign of the displacement-related signal phase in the new cell design, an experimental approach is described where bulk flow effects by electro-osmosis and/or thermal convection are compensated through parallel monitoring of a reference signal from a non-charged species in the sample. This approach, together with a CPMG-like pulse train scheme provides a superior first-order cancellation of non-electrophoretic bulk flow effects.

A PGSE diffusion and electrophoretic NMR study of Cs+ and Na+ dynamics in aqueous crown ether systems.

Multinuclear pulsed gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR diffusion and linewidth measurements were used to probe binding and transport in aqueous Na+-15-crown-5, Na+-18-crown-6, Cs+-15-crown-5 and Cs+-18-crown-6 systems. Since direct PGSE observation of many alkali cations is precluded by either low inherent sensitivity or rapid relaxation (or both), the feasibility of proton-detected electrophoretic NMR (ENMR) measurements to complement PGSE data was investigated. ENMR measurements were performed on aqueous Cs+-, Li+-, Na+-, K+-, and Rb+- 18-crown-6 systems. The data analysis is based on a two-site binding model and its corresponding association constants. Cs+ was found to bind considerably more tightly to 18-crown-6 (K=8 M-1) than to 15-crown-5 (K approximately 2 M-1), whereas Na+ had almost equal affinity (K approximately 4.5 M-1) for 15-crown-5 and 18-crown-6. The difficulties encountered in analysing the NMR parameters, methodological limitations and the implied need for more complicated binding models are discussed.