Delamination and restacking of layered double hydroxides

Layered double hydroxides recovered after exfoliation have been characteriz ed by solid state chemistry techniques. The nature of the recovered materia ls is highly dependant on the drying process; when gently dried, a well-ord ered phase is obtained, either by freeze-drying or reconstruction, but the material becomes amorphous after evaporation of the solvent. Delamination w as used to prepare interstratified LDHs, making this technique a new route to the formation of a wide range of tunable materials.