NMR relaxation in porous materials at zero and ultralow magnetic fields

Abstract NMR detection in the ultralow-field regime (below 10 μT) was used to measure the nuclear spin relaxation rates of liquids imbibed into silica pellets with mean pore diameters in the 10–50 nm range. Heptane, formic acid and acetic acid were studied and relaxation rate data were compared with a conventional field-cycling NMR technique. Detection of 1 H- 13 C spin coupling NMR signals at zero field ( ∼ 0.1 nT) allowed spectroscopic identification of molecules inside the porous material and unambiguous measurements of the chemistry-specific relaxation rates in liquid mixtures. In the case of molecules that contain 1 H and 13 C, spin-singlet state relaxation can provide additional information about the dynamics. Applications and future improvements to the methodology are discussed.