Janus lamellar nanosheets fabricated at the air/liquid interface

Two-dimensional (2D) Janus nanostructures have attracted much interest due to their unique structure and properties, and researchers are making great efforts continuously to explore new preparation methods. Herein, we reported a facile method to fabricate Janus nanosheets with lamellar structures at the air/liquid interface of a water-miscible organic solution of fatty acids and an aqueous solution of metal ions. The organic solution spread on the subphase surface and diffuse into the subphase simultaneously, and the aqueous solution diffused into the organic solution at the same time. Thus, the fatty acid molecules and metal ions self-assembled into layered nanosheets with the aid of hydrophobic interaction of alkyl chains and coordination between carboxylic groups and metal ions in the mixed solution. The sides facing to air and the subphase are composed of alkyl chains and carboxylates, respectively, indicating that the nanosheets are Janus ones. Various organic solvents, metal ions and fatty acid molecules have been tried to fabricate such layered Janus nanosheets. This method is expected to be a useful way to assemble Janus nanostructures.