Chapter 6: Self-diffusion NMR as a Powerful Tool for the Evaluation of Environmental Contamination

Diffusion is an omnipresent phenomenon in nature controlling various processes. Among different experimental techniques allowing for transport characterization, diffusion NMR plays a leading role due to a favourable combination of several features: it is non-invasive, non-perturbative and chemically-selective. In addition, the molecular displacements it traces most closely resemble the typical length scales in heterogeneous environments of industrial and environmental interests. In this way, diffusion as probed by diffusion NMR not only reports on the dynamical properties of chemical species, but also reveals immense information about the environment where diffusion takes place. In this chapter, the basics of diffusion NMR are covered and various types of information it delivers are discussed.