Synthesis of Layered Double Hydroxide Single-Layer Nanosheets in Formamide

Jingfang Yu; Jingjing Liu; Abraham Clearfield; Johnathan E Sims; Michael T Speiegle; Steven L Suib; Luyi Sun

doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02203

Synthesis of Layered Double Hydroxide Single-Layer Nanosheets in Formamide

Inorg Chem. 2016 Nov 21;55(22):12036-12041. doi: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02203. Epub 2016 Nov 1.

Authors

Jingfang Yu, Jingjing Liu, Abraham Clearfield¹, Johnathan E Sims², Michael T Speiegle², Steven L Suib, Luyi Sun

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University , College Station, Texas 77842, United States.
² Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas State University , San Marcos, Texas 78666, United States.

PMID: 27802040
DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b02203

Abstract

Layered double hydroxide (LDH) single-layer nanosheets were synthesized through a single-step process in the presence of formamide. This one-step process is simple, fast, and efficient and thus is potentially viable for large-scale production. Two key factors for the growth of LDH single-layer nanosheets, formamide concentration and LDH layer charge, were investigated thoroughly. A higher formamide concentration and a higher LDH layer charge are favorable for the growth of LDH single-layer nanosheets. The LDH single-layer nanosheets obtained at the premium formamide concentration and LDH layer charge were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atomic force micrscopy (AFM). Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/LDH nanocomposite coatings were also prepared. The coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and poly(lactic acid) (PLA) films exhibited significantly improved oxygen gas barrier properties thanks to the well-dispersed and -aligned LDH single-layer nanosheets in the coating.