title: Synthesis and properties of electrically conductive, ductile, extremely long (~50 μm) nanosheets of K(x)CoO2·yH2O.
abstract: Extremely long, electrically conductive, ductile, free-standing nanosheets of water-stabilized KxCoO2·yH2O are synthesized using the sol-gel and electric-field induced kinetic-demixing (SGKD) process. Room temperature in-plane resistivity of the KxCoO2·yH2O nanosheets is less than ~4.7 mΩ·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 ~50 μm 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 ~13 nm. The nanosheets show ductility with a bending radius as small as ~5 nm.
authors.affiliation: Cornell University , Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 214 Bard Hall, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States.
authors.forename: Mahmut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aksit
authors.forename: Benjamin C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Hoselton
authors.forename: Ha Jun
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Don-Hyung
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Robinson