Neutral Nanosheets that Gel: Exfoliated Layered Double Hydroxides in Toluene

Naik, Vikrant V and Ramesh, TN and Vasudevan, Sukumaran (2011) Neutral Nanosheets that Gel: Exfoliated Layered Double Hydroxides in Toluene. In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2 (10). pp. 1193-1198.

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Abstract

A simple strategy to exfoliate inorganic layered double hydroxide (LDH) solids to their ultimate constituent, intact single layers of nanometer thickness and micrometer size, is presented. The procedure involves intercalation of an ionic surfactant that forms a hydrophobic anchored surfactant bilayer in the galleries of the solid followed by simply stirring the intercalated solid in toluene. The method is rapid but at the same time gentle enough to produce exfoliated nanosheets of regular morphology that are electrically neutral and form stable gels at higher concentrations. In this Letter, we describe the phenomena and use molecular dynamics simulations to show that exfoliation of the LDH in toluene is a consequence of the modification of the cohesive dispersive interactions between surfactant chains anchored on opposing inorganic sheets by the toluene molecules. The toluene molecules function as a molecular glue, holding the surfactant-anchored LDH sheets together, leading to gel formation.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
Additional Information:	Copyright of this article belongs to American Chemical Society.
Department/Centre:	Division of Chemical Sciences > Inorganic & Physical Chemistry
Date Deposited:	15 Jun 2011 08:01
Last Modified:	15 Jun 2011 08:01
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/38222

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