Ion exchange and binding in selenium remediation materials using DNP-enhanced solid-state NMR spectroscopy

Selenate-loaded selenium water remediation materials based on polymer fibres have been investigated by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) enhanced solid-state NMR. For carbon-13 a significant reduction in experiment time is obtained with DNP even when compared with conventional carbon-13 NMR spectra recorded using larger samples. For the selenium remediation materials studied here this reduction allows efficient acquisition of {1H}-77Se heteronuclear correlation spectra which give information about the nature of the binding of the remediated selenate ions with the grafted side chains which provide the required ion exchange functionality.