Structure and dehydration of layered perovskite niobate with bilayer hydrates prepared by exfoliation/self-assembly process

The crystals of an H-form niobate of HCa₂Nb₃O₁₀·xH₂O (x=0.5) being tetragonal symmetry (space group P4/mbm) with unit cell parameters a=5.4521(6) and c=14.414(2) Å were exfoliated into nanosheets with the triple-layered perovskite structure. The colloid suspension of the nanosheets was put into dialysis membrane tubing and allowed self-assembly in a dilute KCl solution. By this method, a novel layered K-form niobate KCa₂Nb₃O₁₀·xH₂O (x=1.3, typically) with bilayer hydrates in the interlayer was produced. The Rieveld refinement and transmission electron microscope (TEM)/selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) observation indicated that the orientations of the a-/b-axis of each nanosheet as well as the c-axis are uniform, and the self-assembled compound had the same symmetry, tetragonal (P4/mbm) with a=5.453(2) and c=16.876(5) Å, as the H-form precursor; the exfoliation/self-assembly process does not markedly affect the two-dimensional lattice of the layer. The large basal spacing resulted from the interlayer K⁺ ions solvated by two layers of water molecules. The interlayer bilayers-water was gradually changed to monolayer when the temperatures higher than 100 °C, and all the water molecules lost when over 600 °C. Accompanying the dehydration, the crystal structure transformed from tetragonal to orthorhombic symmetry. Water molecules may take an important role for the layer layered compound to adjust the unit cell to tetragonal symmetry.