NEMATIC ORDER ON CLAY NANOSHEET SUSPENSION

Clay minerals are the most abundant material in the world and can be used in basic research as well as in many industrial applications. The aim of this proposal is to investigate delaminated synthetic fluorohectorite high-aspect-ratio clay under different external conditions. We are working on the controlled swelling of synthetic clay minerals into clay nanosheets for the capture of large molecules and nanoparticles in the clay interlayers, and also for structural coloration, where the interlayer spacing can reach the order of hundreds of nanometers.