Abstract
Our study on soft chemical process using the metal oxide and metal hydroxide nanosheets obtained by exfoliation their layered compounds were reviewed. Ni(OH)2⁄MnO2 sandwich layered nanostructure can be prepared by layer by–layer stacking of exfoliated manganese oxide nanosheets and nickel hydroxide layers. Manganese oxide nanotubes can be obtained by curling the manganese oxide nanosheets using the cationic surfactants as the template. The layered titanate oriented thin film can be prepared by restacking the titanate nanosheets on a polycrystalline substrate, and transformed to the oriented BaTiO3 and TiO2 thin films by the topotactic structural transformation reactions, respectively. The titanate nanosheets can be transformed anatase–type TiO2 nanocrystals under hydrothermal conditions. The TiO2 nanocrystals are formed by a topotactic structural transformation reaction. The TiO2 nanocrystals prepared by this method expose specific crystal plane on their surfaces, and show high photocatalytic activity and high dye adsorption capacity for high performance dye–sensitized solar cell. A series of layered basic metal salt (LBMS) compounds were prepared by hydrothermal reactions of transition metal hydroxides and organic acids. We succeeded in the exfoliation of these LBMS compounds in alcohol solvents, and obtained the transition metal hydroxide nanosheets for the first time.
