Abstract

Layered double hydroxides recovered after exfoliation have been characterized by solid state chemistry techniques. The nature of the recovered materials is highly dependant on the drying process; when gently dried, a well-ordered phase is obtained, either by freeze-drying or reconstruction, but the material becomes amorphous after evaporation of the solvent. Delamination was used to prepare interstratified LDHs, making this technique a new route to the formation of a wide range of tunable materials.