Few-Layer Clayenes for Material and Environmental Applications

Wenyan Huang; Sridhar Komarneni; Christopher Gorski; Young Dong Noh; April Doroski; Yan Dong; Jianfeng Ma; Aron M Griffin; Dongjiang Yang; Xiaoqiang Xue; Hongjun Yang; Bibiao Jiang

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b20420

Few-Layer Clayenes for Material and Environmental Applications

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Mar 4;12(9):11171-11179. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b20420. Epub 2020 Feb 19.

Authors

Wenyan Huang^{1

2}, Sridhar Komarneni², Christopher Gorski³, Young Dong Noh², April Doroski², Yan Dong², Jianfeng Ma^{2

4}, Aron M Griffin³, Dongjiang Yang⁵, Xiaoqiang Xue^{1

2}, Hongjun Yang¹, Bibiao Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmentally Friendly Polymeric Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Photovoltaic Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China.
² Materials Research Institute and Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, Materials Research Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
⁴ School of Environment and Safety Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Collaborative Innovation Center for Marine Biomass Fibers, Materials and Textiles of Shandong Province, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China.

PMID: 32030972
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b20420

Abstract

Here, we coined the term "clayene" for a single layer of clay and "few-layer clayene" for clays with 2-10 layers. Few-layer clayenes, which are Fe²⁺-rich and mica-type, were prepared hydrothermally at 200 °C and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) to determine the crystalline phases and morphology, respectively. Chemical composition by energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the iron-rich mica composition, and the latter also revealed the presence of both Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺. Mössbauer spectroscopy further confirmed the presence of Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ and their proportions in the mica-type few-layer clayenes. All of the synthesized mica-type few-layer clayenes except one exhibited high specific surface areas (SSAs) ranging from 94 to 149 m²/g as determined by N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms and the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation. The high surface areas are in conformity with the crystal sizes calculated from XRD peaks and also as revealed by HRTEM. Taking advantage of the interfacial reactions of the high surface area of few-layer clayenes, two potential applications of clayenes were demonstrated in materials and environmental fields.

Keywords: Fe2+-rich few-layer clayenes; PVDF−clayene nanocomposites; chromate remediation; elastic modulus; nanoclays; tensile strength.