Structure of Exfoliated Titanate Nanosheets Determined by Atomic Pair Distribution Function Analysis

Titanate nanosheets find useful applications as precursors of nanocomposite materials. Colloidal suspension of titanate nanosheets has been prepared by exfoliation of Cs$_{0.67}$Ti$_{1.83}$O$_{4}$ through the intercalation of tetrabutylammonium (TBA). The atomic scale structure of the nanosheets has been determined using X-ray diffraction and the atomic pair distribution function (PDF) technique, which is known to be well suited for materials showing limited structural coherence. The exfoliated titanate nanosheets have been found to be an irregular assembly of double layers of Ti-O$_{6}$ octahedra accommodating water and TBA molecules in the interlayer space. M. Gateshki, S.-J. Hwang, D. H. Park, Y Ren, and V. Petkov, \textit{Chem. Mater. }\textbf{2004, }$16, $5153-5157.