Advanced material science of clay minerals: from capture of carbon dioxide to non-iridescent structural coloration.

Clay minerals are natural 2D siblings of graphite stacks and graphene oxide nanolayers.
Very recently it was demonstrated that nanolayered clay mineral particle stacks can adsorb carbon dioxide with exceptionally high volumetric capacity. This is due to the very high effective interfacial area of clay mineral stacks, combined with targeted nanoscale functionalization of those interlayers
Clay minerals in aqueous suspension can delaminate and spontaneously form aligned 2D colloidal nematics. This talk will further discuss how nanoscale functionalization of exfoliated clay nanolayered colloids may lead to high-tech applications far beyond the traditional low-tech ones. This is particularly intereting given that natrual clay minerals are abundant, low-cost, non-toxic, environmentally friendly and sustainable 2D materails that in several contexts partly could replace or reduce the use of plastics.