Exfoliated 2-D inorganic materials are of fundamental interest and are useful for applications spanning catalysis, electronics and sensing. Here, a new method to make exfoliated and highly soluble layered zinc hydroxides (LZH) is presented. It applies the controlled hydrolysis of organometallic zinc precursors in the presence of zinc carboxylate complexes. The synthesis is achieved by reacting diethyl zinc with sub-stoichiometric equivalents of zinc carboxylates, optimally with [COOR]/[Zn] = 0.6, at room temperature and in organic solvents. Monolayers of layered zinc hydroxides, coordinated by oleate, are prepared by stirring the LZH in toluene, for 2 h. The exfoliated monolayers are characterized using both atomic force and transmission electron microscopies and show high solubilities in polar aprotic solvents (up to 23 mg/mL). Solution deposition of the LZH solutions onto a glass substrate, followed by annealing at 500 °C for 15 mins, enables the formation of 1 μm thick films of optically transparent zinc oxide.

Organometallic route to layered zinc hydroxides and their exfoliated monolayers in apolar solvents

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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