Strategic Shuffling of Clay Layers to Imbue Them with Responsiveness

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) Vol. 29; no. 24
• Main Authors: Gogoi, Raj Kumar, Raidongia, Kalyan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.06.2017
• Subjects: Clay minerals; clay–clay bilayer membranes; Cooling; Exposure; montmorillonite; Morphing; reconstructed 2D materials; responsive materials; Robustness; Stimuli; vermiculite; vermiculite; clay-clay bilayer membranes; montmorillonite; responsive materials; reconstructed 2D materials
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.201701164

Layers of naturally occurring clay minerals are rearranged to prepare highly sensitive multiresponsive clay–clay bilayer membrane (CCBM). The CCBM introduced here responds to the minuscule changes in the surrounding environments including temperature, humidity, and presence of solvent vapors by morphing in specific manners. Strips cut from CCBM exhibit up to 588 N kg−1 force output when exposed to temperature fluctuations. Inheriting the natural stability of clay minerals, CCBM demonstrates extreme robustness, heating up to 500 °C, cooling with liquid N2 and exposure to corrosive chemical vapors did not deteriorate its bending performance. Mechanistic studies suggest that shape transformations of CCBM are driven by the unequal response of its components to external stimuli. Layers of naturally occurring clay minerals are rearranged to prepare a multiresponsive bilayer membrane that responds to the minuscule changes in the surrounding environments by morphing in a specific manner. The clay–clay bilayer membrane demonstrates extreme robustness: heating up to 500 °C, cooling with liquid N2, and exposure to corrosive chemical vapors does not deteriorate its performance.