Structural roles of calcium in alkaline and alkaline-earth aluminosilicate glasses by solid-state 43Ca, 17O and 27Al NMR.

Structural roles of Ca in aluminosilicate glasses have been investigated by solid-state 43Ca, 17O, and 27Al NMR spectroscopy. In 15Al2O3-55SiO2-15CaO-15RO (R=Mg, Ca, Sr, and Na2) (mol%) glass systems wherein half of the alkaline plus alkaline-earth cations charge-compensate (AlO4)‒ tetrahedra and the other half modify the glass network, with decreasing cation field strength (CFS) in the order of Mg2+>Ca2+>Sr2+>Na+, the isotropic chemical shift (δiso) of 43Ca moves to a higher frequency and the quadrupolar coupling constant (PQ) of 43Ca decreases. The change in the δiso of 43Ca is more sensitive to the role of Ca than that in the PQ of 43Ca. The two possible roles (network modifier and charge compensator) of Ca in the glass with R=Ca are not distinguished in the 43Ca 3QMAS and 5QMAS spectra. The 17O 3QMAS results demonstrate that the cation with higher CFS (e.g., Mg2+ in the R=Mg glass and Ca2+ in the R=Na2 glass) dominantly creates non-bridging oxygen, even though there is slight cation mixing. With increasing CFS in the glass, the PQ of both 43Ca and 27Al also increases, indicating that the cation with higher CFS tends to degrade the structural symmetry.

Analysis of atomic scale chemical environments of boron in coal by 11B solid state NMR.

Atomic scale chemical environments of boron in coal has been studied by solid state NMR spectroscopy including magic angle spinning (MAS), satellite transition magic angle spinning (STMAS), and cross-polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS). The (11)B NMR spectra can be briefly classified according to the degree of coalification. On the (11)B NMR spectra of lignite, bituminous, and sub-bituminous coals (carbon content of 70-90mass%), three sites assigned to four-coordinate boron ([4])B with small quadrupolar coupling constants (≤0.9 MHz) are observed. Two of the ([4])B sites in downfield are considered organoboron complexes with aromatic ligands, while the other in the most upper field is considered inorganic tetragonal boron (BO(4)). By contrast, on the (11)B NMR spectra of blind coal (carbon content >90mass%), the ([4])B which substitutes tetrahedral silicon of Illite is observed as a representative species. It has been considered that the organoboron is decomposed and released from the parent phase with the advance of coal maturation, and then the released boron reacts with the inorganic phase to substitute an element of inorganic minerals. Otherwise boron contained originally in inorganic minerals might remain preserved even under the high temperature condition that is generated during coalification.

Oxygen Speciation in Multicomponent Silicate Glasses Using Through Bond Double Resonance NMR Spectroscopy.

The description of the structure of aluminosilicate glasses is more often centered on its cationic constituents, and oxygen ions determine their connectivity, directly impacting the physical properties of those disordered materials. A very powerful approach to ascertain this short- to medium-range order is to use 17O NMR, but up to now the speciation of the chemical bonds was only ambiguously achieved for multicomponent glasses. Here, we propose to directly probe the very scarcely explored through-bond correlations using 17O{27Al} and 17O{23Na} solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) double-resonance experiments. Our approach allows quantifying the strongly overlapping components of the 17O NMR spectra of a quaternary aluminosilicate glass. We observe a cooperative location of alkali and aluminum ions in the neighborhood of bridging oxygens, which is consistent with the modified random network model where the glass structure is composed of two regions: network structure and breakage region (i.e., channel).

Chemical state of boron in coal fly ash investigated by focused-ion-beam time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (FIB-TOF-SIMS) and satellite-transition magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (STMAS NMR).

The chemical states of boron in coal fly ash, which may control its leaching into the environment, were investigated by focused-ion-beam time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (FIB-TOF-SIMS) and satellite-transition magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (STMAS NMR) spectroscopy. The distribution of boron on the surface and in the interior of micron-sized fly ash particles was directly observed by FIB-TOF-SIMS. Coordination numbers of boron and its bonding with different atoms from particles of bulk samples were investigated by STMAS NMR. Boron in coal fly ash with relatively poor leaching characteristics appears as trigonal BO(3) and coexists with Ca and Fe at the outer layer of every particle and inside CaO-MgO particles. In contrast, boron in coal fly ash with better leaching characteristics appears as CaO- or MgO-trigonal BO(3) and tetragonal BO(4), and it is distributed only on the outer surface of each ash particle without showing any correlation with a particular element.

Practical comparison of sensitivity and resolution between STMAS and MQMAS for 27Al.

An experimental comparison of sensitivity and resolution of satellite transition (ST) MAS and multiple quantum (MQ) MAS was performed for (27)Al (I=5/2) using several pulse sequences with a z-filter and SPAM, and two inorganic samples of kaolin (Al(2)Si(2)O(5)(OH)(4)) and glass (43.1CaO-12.5Al(2)O(3)-44.4SiO(2)). Six pulse sequences of STMAS (double-quantum filter-soft pulse added mixing=DQF-SPAM, double-quantum filter=DQF, double-quantum=DQ) and MQMAS (3QMAS-z-filter=3Qz, 3QMAS-SPAM=3Q-SPAM, 5QMAS-z-filter=5Qz) are employed. All experiments have been conducted utilizing a static field of 16.4T (700MHz for (1)H) and a rotor spinning frequency of 20kHz. Dependence of S/N ratios as a function of radio frequency (r.f.) field strengths indicates that strong r.f. fields are essential to obtain a better S/N ratio in all experiments. High sensitivity is obtained in the following order: DQF-SPAM, DQF, DQ, 3QSPAM, and 3Qz, although the degree of sensitivity enhancement given by STMAS for glass is slightly smaller than that for kaolin. This might be due to the different excitation and conversion efficiencies of ST and MQ coherences as a function C(q) values because quadrupolar interaction of the glass are widely distributed, or to motional broadening caused by framework flexibility in the structure of glass. With respect to resolution, the full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of F(1) projections of DQF-STMAS and 3QMAS spectra for kaolin are found to be comparable, which agrees with a simulated result reported in a literature. For glass, the STMAS possess slightly wider line widths than 3QMAS. However, because such a difference in line widths of STMAS and 3QMAS spectra is substantially small, we have concluded that STMAS and 3QMAS have comparable resolution for crystalline and non-crystalline materials.