Thermosetting polymer for dynamic nuclear polarization: Solidification of an epoxy resin mixture including TEMPO

We investigated the dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) of typical thermosetting polymers (two-component type epoxy resins; Araldite® Standard or Araldite® Rapid) doped with a (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-yl)oxy (TEMPO) radical. The doping process was developed by carefully considering the decomposition of TEMPO during the solidification of the epoxy resin. The TEMPO electron spin in each two-component paste decayed slowly, which was favorable for our study. Furthermore, despite the dissolved TEMPO, the mixture of the two-component paste successfully solidified. With the resulting TEMPO-doped epoxy-resin samples, DNP experiments at 1.2 K and 3.35 T indicated a magnitude of a proton-spin polarization up to 39%. This polarization is similar to that (35%) obtained for TEMPO-doped polystyrene (PS), which is often used as a standard sample for DNP. To combine this solidification of TEMPO-including mixture with a resin-casting technique enables a creation of polymeric target materials with a precise and complex structure.