Electron paramagnetic resonance study of paramagnetic centers in carbon-fumed silica adsorbent

Abstract

Fumed silica A-300 was carbonized by means of pyrolysis of CH2Cl2. The obtained initial SiO2:C nanopowders of black color, with an average diameter of 14–16 nm and carbon (C) concentration 7 wt. %, subjected to the oxidation and passivation treatment were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) in the temperature range 4–400 K. Two EPR signals of Lorentzian lineshape with nearly equal g-factors and different linewidth were observed in the initial, oxidized, and passivated SiO2:C nanopowders. The two-component EPR spectrum was explained by the presence of C in two electronic states. The intensive narrow EPR signal, which has a temperature-dependent intensity, linewidth, and resonance field position, was attributed to the carbon-related defect with non-localized electron hopping between neighboring C-dangling bonds. The striking effect is that the temperature dependence of the EPR linewidth demonstrates the motional narrowing of the EPR signal at very low temperatures from 4 K to 20 K, which is not typically for nonmetallic materials and was explained by the quantum character of C layer conductivity in the SiO2:C. The observed peaks in the temperature dependence of the conduction electron EPR signal integral intensity in the high-temperature range 200–440 K was explained by the presence of the C nanodots at the surface of SiO2 nanoparticles and the ejection of electrons from the confinement energy levels of C quantum dot when the temperature becomes comparable to the confinement energy.