Synthesis and Properties of Electrically Conductive, Ductile, Extremely Long (similar to 50 mu m) Nanosheets of KxCoO2 center dot yH(2)O

Abstract

Extremely long, electrically conductive, ductile, free-standing nanosheets of water-stabilized KxCoO2 center dot yH(2)O are synthesized using the sol gel and electric-field induced kinetic-demixing (SGKD) process. Room temperature in-plane resistivity of the KxCoO2 center dot yH(2)O nanosheets is less than similar to 4.7 m Omega.cm, which corresponds to one of the lowest resistivity values reported for metal oxide nanosheets. The synthesis produces tens of thousands of very high aspect ratio (50,000:50,000:1 = length/width/thickness), millimeter length nanosheets stacked into a macro-scale pellet. Free-standing nanosheets up to similar to 50 mu m long are readily delaminated from the stacked nanosheets. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) studies of the free-standing nanosheets indicate that the delaminated pieces consist of individual nanosheet crystals that are turbostratically stacked. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies confirm that the nanosheets are stacked in perfect registry along their c-axis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) based statistical analysis show that the average thickness of the nanosheets is similar to 13 nm. The nanosheets show ductility with a bending radius as small as similar to 5 nm.