My PhD project shall investigate the chemistry of Pt metal nanoparticles supported on various cerium-containing oxide systems used in catalytic applications in which the precious metal promotes the release of O^2- from the oxide lattice. As naturally occurring Ce is NMR silent, this shall be facilitated by ¹⁹⁵Pt broadline solid state NMR in order to characterize the nanoparticle formation (influenced by different support materials and synthesis conditions), in addition to ¹⁷O MAS NMR with the intention of determining the oxygen storage and release properties of these systems. Additional multinuclear MAS NMR studies of other nuclei comprising the oxide-based support materials are also proposed. Two different ¹⁷O enrichment processes of the oxide support materials (sol-gel and heterogeneous gas phase exchange methods) will give complementary information governing the total O speciation and the mobile component of this speciation which participates in the O conduction and transport properties. Finally, the use of the DNP technique will be used to enhance the ¹⁷O MAS NMR signal, and in particular help locate and characterise defect/vacancy positions. This approach will focus on sensitivity enhancements achievable from conventional radical sources such as TEMPOL or TOTAPOL, and will also involve an investigation of the feasibility of enhancements being obtained from natural paramagnetic sources available in the material from the Ce3+/Ce4+ redox balance established within doped and vacancy-affected systems.

Developments and Applications of Solid State NMR to Materials Science, Chemistry and Engineering Conference 2016 (Varna, Bulgaria)

Johnson Matthey Academic Conference 2016 (Loughborough Univsersity)

iMR CDT Research Conference 2016 (University of Warwick)

iMR CDT Research Conference 2015 (University of Warwick)

iMR CDT Advanced Workshop 2015 (University of Warwick)

Johnson Matthey Academic Conference 2015 (Loughborough Univsersity)

CASTEP Training Workshop 2014 (University of Oxford)

SMARTER4 2014 (Durham University)

NMRDG 2014 (University of Nottingham)

iMR CDT Advanced Workshop 2014 (University of Dundee)

Johnson Matthey Academic Conference 2014 (Loughborough University)

850 MHz Annual Symposium 2014 (University of Warwick)

BRSG Christmas Meeting 2013 (Institute of Physics, London)

iMR CDT Kick-Off Workshop 2013 (University of Warwick)

Bruker NMR Users' Meeting 2013 (Coventry)

I demonstrate the Compton Scattering Experiment in the second year Physics Laboratory here at Warwick.

B. J. Corrie, J. F. Shin, S. Hull, K. S. Knight, M. C. Vlachou, J. V. Hanna and P. R. Slater, Dalton Transactions, 2016, 45, 121-133