Direct Organometallic Synthesis of Carboxylate Intercalated Layered Zinc Hydroxides for Fully Exfoliated Functional Nanosheets

Intercalation of organic anions into 2D materials can enable exfoliation, improve dispersion stability, increase surface area, and provide useful functional groups. In layered metal hydroxides, intercalation bulk structures is commonly achieved by cumbersome typically incomplete anion exchange reactions. contrast, here, a series carboxylate-intercalated zinc hydroxides (LZH-R) are synthesized directly, at room temperature, reacting an organozinc reagent with precise sub-stoichiometric quantity the desired carboxylic acid water. A range acids used to make new LZH-R which crystalline, soluble, functionalized, as established X-ray diffraction, spectroscopic, microscopy techniques. When R alkyl ether carboxylate, this direct synthesis method results in spontaneous exfoliation monolayer nanosheets high yields (70–80%) solubilities alcohols water up 180 mg mL?1. By altering carboxylate ligand, groups suitable for post-synthetic modification or detection fluorescence also introduced. These examples demonstrate versatile synthetic route exfoliated nanosheets.