We have carried out the first systematic in situ
variable-temperature (25−180 °C) high-resolution proton NMR study of laboratory-frame and rotating-frame
proton spin−lattice
relaxation of coal samples, based on the CRAMPS technique. For
coal samples that have been
exposed to air, we confirmed the fact that paramagnetic oxygen is the
main source of laboratory-frame proton spin−lattice relaxation (T
1).
We demonstrate that paramagnetic oxygen trapped
in coal can be used as a sensitive probe for monitoring structural and
dynamical changes in coal
as the temperature is varied. High-temperature spin−lattice
relaxation experiments help to
reveal the structural heterogeneity of coal because of reduced proton
and electron spin-diffusion
rates at high temperature. Large domains, on the order of
200−800 Å, with distinctively different
paramagnetic oxygen concentrations, were found in all three coal
samples studied, consisting of
one low-volatile and two high-volatile bituminous coals from the
Argonne Premium Coal bank.
In particular, we found that aliphatic-rich domains with a
length-scale larger than 500 Å exist
in Premium Coal 601. The observed dependences of the
rotating-frame 1H spin−lattice relaxation
time T
1
ρ on the strength of the
spin-lock field and temperature support the view that the
main
relaxation mechanism is time-dependent 1H−1H
dipolar interactions in coals. From these
dependences, we estimate that the correlation time of molecular motion
responsible for rotating-frame proton spin−lattice relaxation in coals is on the order of 5
μs, which is in agreement with
conclusions drawn from previous proton dipolar-dephasing studies.
Two T
1
ρ values were
identified
for each of the three coal samples studied, indicating the existence of
structural heterogeneity in
coal on a spatial scale of at least 50 Å. The sizes of
heterogeneous domains in coal are estimated
on the basis of measured spin−lattice relaxation times and the
analysis of proton spin-diffusion
processes.