Morphology engineering of 2D Zn-catalysts to wrinkled particles using NaCl microcrystals: enhanced recyclability for the synthesis of poly(caprolactone)s

Abstract

Zn-gallate nanoparticles with a wrinkled surface structure (W-Zn-Gal NP) were engineered using micron-sized NaCl crystals as morphology-guiding materials. While control Zn-Gal plates exhibited moderate catalytic activity and poor recyclability, due to the facile plate–plate packing and facile cleavage into pieces, W-Zn-Gal NP showed excellent catalytic performance and enhanced recyclability in the ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone to poly(caprolactone).