Observation of¹⁰⁹Ag NMR spectra of supported silver catalysts

The first observation of Ag-109 NMR spectra from Ag metal particles dispersed on alumina and silica, in some cases at Ag contents as low as 0.1 wt.% is reported. The Knight shifts and relaxation times are found to be typical for Ag bulk metal. The distortions of the Ag metal crystal lattice were found to contribute to Ag-109 NMR line width. The estimation of Ag crystal size at which the metal-to-nonmetal transformation takes place was made from studies of samples with different size distribution of supported Ag particles.