Issue 14, 2014

Structural characterisation of a layered double hydroxide nanosheet

Abstract

We report the atomic-scale structure of a Zn2Al–borate layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheet, as determined by reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) modelling of X-ray total scattering data. This study involves the extension of the RMC method to enable structural refinement of two-dimensional nanomaterials. The refined LDH models show the intra-layer geometry in this highly-exfoliated phase to be consistent with that observed in crystalline analogues, with the reciprocal-space scattering data suggesting a disordered arrangement of the Zn2+ and Al3+ cations within the nanosheet. The approach we develop is generalisable and so offers a method of characterising the structures of arbitrary nanosheet phases, including systems that support complex forms of disorder within the nanosheets themselves.

Graphical abstract: Structural characterisation of a layered double hydroxide nanosheet

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Mar 2014
Accepted
12 May 2014
First published
16 May 2014
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2014,6, 8032-8036

Author version available

Structural characterisation of a layered double hydroxide nanosheet

N. P. Funnell, Q. Wang, L. Connor, M. G. Tucker, D. O'Hare and A. L. Goodwin, Nanoscale, 2014, 6, 8032 DOI: 10.1039/C4NR01265H

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