Dynamic nuclear polarisation-enhanced NMR spectroscopy for advanced materials understanding

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Magic Angle Spinning (MAS) NMR spectroscopy is the most versatile and widely-used technique in the chemical, physical and material sciences for the characterisation of the atomic scale structure of solid molecules and materials, and their dynamics. However, MAS NMR suffers from a relatively low receptivity, often requiring prohibitively long experimental times, especially for targeted systems in very low concentrations or the detection of inherently insensitive nuclear spins. An exciting approach to tackling these issues consist of transferring the high polarisation of the electron spins to the low polarisation of the nuclear spins followed by their detection. This process is called Dynamic Nuclear Polarisation (DNP) and potentially affords signal enhancement of multiple orders of magnitude, opening tremendous opportunities for advanced materials characterisation.This PhD studentship aims at developing DNP MAS NMR spectroscopy by exploring new experimental methodologies using a wide range of easily accessible polarising agents and identifying experimental conditions for local site directed electron spin labelling. This includes experimental DNP MAS NMR measurements and understanding electron - nucleus spin dynamics. The project will deliver new research frontiers and game changing capabilities in structure determination of molecules and materials.