Deposition of layered double hydroxide on non-pretreated carbon cloth using lactate salts as raw materials

This study presented the successful deposition of layered double hydroxide (LDH) onto non-pretreated carbon cloth (CC) using lactate salts as raw materials. Specifically, under the hydrothermal condition using urea hydrolysis and lactate salts as the source of Mg and Al, MgAl-LDH was deposited onto the CC surface, which is typically treated with organic solvents and acids to enhance its hydrophilicity prior to LDH deposition. X-ray diffraction patterns, field-emission electron microscope images, and elemental analyses revealed the deposition and coating of hexagonal platy particles of a carbonate-type MgAl-LDH with pseudo hexagonal phase and Mg/Al molar ratio of 1 onto CC. This LDH coating was not achieved when using chlorides and nitrates, which commonly used Mg and Al sources. These results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method for facile LDH deposition on hydrophobic surfaces.