NMR isn’t all about protons (¹H) although people often primarily think that due to the excellent sensitivity of the nucleus and its wide-ranging uses in organic chemistry. In fact, many more nuclei are NMR sensitive and can be used to build a better picture of your chemistry. A broadband channel, capable of collecting spectra from a variety of different nuclei (so called X-Nuclei), has until now been restricted to high field NMR applications. X-Pulse however, delivers a true tuneable broadband channel to the benchtop for the first time, enabling investigations of systems not easily analyzed with just protons.
The use of analytical techniques at all stages of the chemical reaction gives valuable information about the reaction process and allows for reaction optimization, checking of reaction completion and presence of contaminants. The technique of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) delivers unique structural information about small molecules, identifying functional groups, molecular backbone and the chemical environment of the nuclei. It is widely used for the simple and rapid measurement of many organic synthesis processes.
Benchtop NMR has a wide range of application in battery technology. Using benchtop spectroscopy with X-Pulse it is possible to characterize liquid electrolytes in great detail from research applications in the development of new electrolyte formulations to manufacturing process and quality control to the understanding of battery failures through electrolyte degradation. Using benchtop time domain NMR with MQC+ or MQR it is possible to characterize porosity of separator membranes, measure particle sizes of graphite in anode slurries as well as any other material properties of typical battery components.