Towards Determination of Distances Between Nanoparticles and Grafted Paramagnetic Ions by NMR Relaxation

We developed an approach for determining distances between carbon nanoparticles and grafted paramagnetic ions and molecules by means of nuclear spin–lattice relaxation data. The approach was applied to copper-, cobalt- and gadolinium-grafted nanodiamonds, iron-grafted graphenes, manganese-grafted graphene oxide and activated carbon fibers that adsorb paramagnetic oxygen molecules. Our findings show that the aforementioned distances vary in the range of 2.7–5.4 Å and that the fixation of paramagnetic ions to nanoparticles is most likely implemented by means of the surface functional groups. The nuclear magnetic resonance data data are compared with the results of electron paramagnetic resonance measurements and density functional theory calculations.