Interdigitating organic bilayers direct the short interlayer spacing in hybrid organic–inorganic layered vanadium oxide nanostructures
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Accepted Version
Date
2011-10-31
Authors
Gannon, G.
O'Dwyer, Colm
Larsson, J. Andreas
Thompson, Damien
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
American Chemical Society
Published Version
Abstract
Layered metal oxides provide a single-step route to sheathed superlattices of atomic layers of a variety of inorganic materials, where the interlayer spacing and overall layered structure forms the most critical feature in the nanomaterials’ growth and application in electronics, health, and energy storage. We use a combination of computer simulations and experiments to describe the atomic-scale structure, dynamics and energetics of alkanethiol-intercalated layered vanadium oxide-based nanostructures. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations identify the unusual substrate-constrained packing of the alkanethiol surfactant chains along each V2O5 (010) face that combines with extensive interdigitation between chains on opposing faces to maximize three-dimensional packing in the interlayer regions. The findings are supported by high resolution electron microscopy analyses of synthesized alkanethiol-intercalated vanadium oxide nanostructures, and the preference for this new interdigitated model is clarified using a large set of MD simulations. This dependency stresses the importance of organic–inorganic interactions in layered material systems, the control of which is central to technological applications of flexible hybrid nanomaterials.
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Keywords
Molecular dynamics , High resolution electron microscopy , Hybrid materials , Nanostructured materials , Nanostructures , Oxides , Surface active agents , Vanadium , Vanadium compounds
Citation
Gannon, G., O'Dwyer, C., Larsson, J. A. and Thompson, D. (2011) 'Interdigitating organic bilayers direct the short inter layer spacing in hybrid organic-inorganic layered vanadium oxide nanostructures'. Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 115(49), pp. 14518–14525. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jp207709c
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Copyright
© 2011 American Chemical Society. This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jp207709c