Structural characterisation of a layered double hydroxide nanosheet.

Journal article

We report the atomic-scale structure of a Zn₁₅₂Al-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 Zn(2+) and Al(3+) 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.

Authors: Funnell, N; Wang, Q; Connor, L; Tucker, MG; O'Hare, D

• Publication status: Published
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Journal: Nanoscale
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 14
• Pages: 8032-8036
• Publication date: 2014-07-01
• DOI: 10.1039/c4nr01265h
• EISSN: 2040-3372
• ISSN: 2040-3364
• Language: English