Hydrotalcite-like anionic clays or layered double hydroxides (LDHs
IntroductionIn recent years, polymer-inorganic nanocomposites have been the subject of extensive research. Previous studies on the layered materials have mainly focused on the layered silicates and polymerlayered silicate nanocomposites, 1 because of the relatively low layer charge density and the easy exfoliation of montmorillonite (MMT)-type layered silicate compounds. Anionic clays are also of interest as they may have properties that are parallel to or divergent from those of the cationic clays. The most well-known anionic clays are the hydrotalcitelike layered double hydroxides or LDHs. 2 LDHs have a much higher charge density than MMT in the interlayer and a stronger interaction among the hydroxide sheets than layered silicates, which makes the exfoliation of LDHs much more difficult. 3 Recently, a number of reports on the exfoliation of LDHs 4 and NOT THE PUBLISHED VERSION; this is the author's final, peer-reviewed manuscript. The published version may be accessed by following the link in the citation at the bottom of the page. Chemistry, Vol. 18, No. 26 (2008): pg. 3091-3102. DOI. This article is © Royal Society of Chmistry and permission has been granted for this version to appear in e-Publications@Marquette. Royal Society of Chmistry does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Royal Society of Chmistry.
Journal of Materials3 polymer-LDH exfoliated nanocomposites 5 have been published. These synthetic anionic clays are emerging as potential fire retardants. 6 Layered double hydroxides consist of positively charged metal hydroxides sheets with anions (along with water) located between the layers to compensate the charge on the layers. 7 The LDH structure is described with the ideal formula [ , and various carboxylates, etc.; intra and inter denote the intralayer domain and the interlayer space, respectively. The LDH structure consists of brucite-like layers constituted of edge-sharing M(OH)6 octahedra. 8 Partial M III for M II substitution induces a positive charge on the layers, balanced by the presence of the interlayer anions. LDHs then consist of a stacking of positively charged layers with anions intercalated in the interlayer region, usually referred to as the gallery space, together with water molecules. LDHs exhibit anion-exchange properties 9 and their interlayer spacing can change depending on the size of the intercalated anions. 10 When heated above about 600 °C, these materials lead to mixed oxides.
11The presence of an organic moiety in the LDH gallery space plays an important role in the preparation of the LDH-polymer nanocomposites. Pinnavaia et al.12 reported a Mg 2+ /Al 3+ /Cl -LDH with a gallery height of approximately 2.97 Å. The size of the interlayer space was calculated from a basal spacing of 7.74 Å (indicated by X-ray powder diffraction) and the thickness of the brucite layer (4.77 Å). The gallery distance between each ...