OXYGEN SITES IN HYDROUS ALUMINOSILICATE GLASSES: THE ROLE OF AL-O-AL AND H2O

Abstract

We describe here high-field 17O magic-angle-spinning (MAS) and triple-quantum MAS (3QMAS) NMR spectra for several alkali silicate and Na, K, and Ca aluminosilicate glasses containing up to 10 wt.% water. The H2O site appears to have a large quadrupolar coupling constant, and its chemical shift increases from Na- to K- glasses, suggesting significant cation-H2O interactions. In 17O one-pulse MAS and 3QMAS and 27Al one-pulse NMR experiments, major differences were seen between spectra for anhydrous and hydrous calcium aluminosilicate glasses. The changes in the 17O MAS spectra can be explained by the addition of an H2O peak and to the disappearance of an Al-O-Al peak from the 17O NMR spectrum for the hydrous glass. The 27Al results are consistent with this interpretation.