Publication date: 15th May 2025
The discovery and development of new materials tailored to a specific function remain as one of the grand challenges for materials’ scientists. To this end, layered materials have been extensively studied due to the sundry of properties that emerge from chemical and physical modifications. Unfortunately, little is still known of the fundamental requirements to generate pronounced and tailored alterations to the electronic structure upon dimensional reduction or functionalization of their active sites. Comprehensive nanoscale characterization is essential to understand how the loss of 3D structural coherence and further modifications of the surface, induced because of ion intercalation, exfoliation to 2D sheets, or functionalization of the basal planes, alter the electronic structure of these materials which translates into physical properties. In this talk, I will discuss the use of layered VS2 structures as seed to nucleate VOOH nanostars and the precise control of ligand modification on Fe-based layered double hydroxides as novel catalysts. With these modifications, we seek to understand changes in the capabilities of these materials to serve as pollution remediation catalysts, especially for emergent pollutants.