Two-Dimensional Chiroptically Active Copper Oxide Nanostructures

Abstract

Induction of chirality in colloidal nanomaterials has been of great interest in recent years due to the broad range of potential applications for these materials, including in biomedicine, sensing, and photocatalysis. However, the investigation of chirality induction in two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials is currently at a very early stage, despite their potential unique properties and important applications. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of chiroptically active 2D copper(II) oxide (CuO)-based nanomaterials for the first time. In our studies we demonstrate that postsynthetic treatment of copper- aluminium carbonate intercalated layered double hydroxide (CuAl-CO3 LDH) nanosheets with phenylalanine at room temperature under basic conditions results in the formation of two-dimensional chiral CuO nanosheets exhibiting strong circular dichroism signals, far beyond the onset of the characteristic signals of the initial ligands.