文摘
Lamellar dehydroxylation mechanisms are important in understanding highly reactivenanocrystal oxide formation as well as a variety of applied lamellar hydroxide reactionprocesses. These mechanisms have been observed for the first time via in situ nanoscaleimaging for the prototype lamellar hydroxide: Mg(OH)2. Environmental-cell, dynamic high-resolution transmission electron microscopy was combined with advanced computationalmodeling in discovering that lamellar nucleation and growth processes govern dehydroxylation. The host lamella can guide the formation of a solid solution series of lamellaroxyhydroxide intermediates en route to oxide formation. This investigation opens the doorto a deeper, atomic-level understanding of lamellar dehydroxylation reaction processes,nanocrystal oxide formation, and the range of potential new intermediate materials andthird component reaction pathways they can provide.