In situ NMR spectroelectrochemistry of higher sensitivity by large scale electrodes

The combination of NMR spectroscopy and electrochemistry provides an in situ method to measure structural changes of the redox components in an electrochemical reaction by proton NMR experiments. As the use of metal thin film radio frequency (RF) transparent electrodes in NMR spectroelectrochemical studies is limited by layer thickness and electrodes size, we present a new spectroelectrochemical NMR cell design consisting of nearly metal free symmetrically arranged large scale carbon fiber electrodes. Due to the advantages of modern NMR spectroscopy, a cell rotation is not necessary for high resolution measurements. This makes the presented cell for in situ spectroelectrochemical NMR measurements easy to prepare. The cell design is universal for a large variety of NMR spectrometers and frequencies used for detection of different nuclei. The feasibility of this new in situ NMR spectroelectrochemical cell is demonstrated in a detailed study of the electrochemical behavior of p-benzoquinone in different aqueous solutions.