Characterizing the structure of disordered systems lacking of long-range 3D periodicity, like glasses, remains a challenging experimental task. Over the last years, various solid-state NMR methods have been proposed to obtain detailed short and longer-range structural information in disordered systems [1]. In this work, we have used this NMR approach to probe the structure and to describe the extent and nature of disorder in two systems. First, we will describe the use 29Si homonuclear through-bond multiple-quantum NMR experiments and 71Ga very-high field NMR spectra to characterize and quantify the chemical disorder in 29Si-enriched SrGa2Si2O8 transparent polycrystalline ceramic [2] as well as in the parent glass. Then, we will discuss the structure of complex glasses in the SiO2-Na2O-Ga2O-Nb2O5 system which contain “incompatible” glass formers. In that case, 29Si, 71Ga, 23Na, 95Nb and several double-resonance NMR experiments complemented with TEM microscopy have been employed to study the nature of disorder in homogeneous and nanostructured glasses having potential applications in optics [3].

Key words: solid state NMR, glasses, chemical disorder, nanostructure

[1] D. Massiot et al., « Topological, Geometric, and Chemical Order in Materials: Insights from Solid-State NMR », Acc. Chem. Res., vol. 46, no 9, p. 1975‑1984, sept. 2013, doi: 10.1021/ar3003255.

[2] C. Monteiro, « Obtention de céramiques polycristallines transparentes à propriétés optiques par cristallisation complète et orientée du verre », Thèse de doctorat, Université Orléans, CEMHTI, 2019.

[3] S. Chenu, E. Véron, C. Genevois, A. Garcia, G. Matzen, et M. Allix, « Long-lasting luminescent ZnGa 2 O 4 :Cr 3+ transparent glass-ceramics », J. Mater. Chem. C, vol. 2, no 46, p. 10002‑10010, 2014, doi: 10.1039/C4TC02081B.