Leashed ferrocenes at clay surfaces: potential applications for environmental catalysis

The surfaces of clays are highly reactive and are known to catalyze a range of reactions. Clay surface catalysis has been implicated in the in situ remediation of many organic compounds in the environment. The exact mechanism for catalysis is not yet well understood but crystal lattice iron redox reactions have been implicated. Understanding the reduction of clay crystal lattice iron depends upon the ability to reproducibly and reversibly deliver charge to the interlayer sites of the clay. This study uses ferrocene surfactants as a means to deliver charge to the interlayer of well ordered clay films. Ferrocenyl surfactants are shown to deliver charge to crystal lattice iron dependent upon the chain length of the surfactant. Nanocomposites formed from ferrocenyl surfactants and clay exhibit increased capacitance, also dependent upon the chain length of the surfactant. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.