Preparation and Interfacial Behavior of Mg-based Nanosheets

Abstract Two-dimensional nanosheets have attracted considerable attention as oil displacement agent due to their unique interfacial properties. But the high cost limits the application of traditional nanosheets. In this study, a hydrophilic magnesium-based nanosheet (HMN) was synthesized and modified to obtain the amphiphilic magnesium-based nanosheets(AMN). The influences of reaction time, reaction temperature, stirring rate and raw materials ratio of product were studied and the optical reaction condition were summed up as follows: reaction time was 27 h, reaction temperature was 50 °C, stirring rate was 100 rpm, magnesium source: synthetic agent was 0.5:1. Though AFM, SEM and TEM, it was confirmed that nanosheets were two-dimensional sheet-like with 100-300 nm of plane size and 4-20 nm of thickness size. FTIR confirmed the successful modification of AMN from HMN. AMN had good interfacial properties, 0.05wt% AMN could reduce the oil-water interfacial tension from 34.67 mN/m to 1.08 mN/m, and make the oil wet glass into a neutral wetting. Furthermore, emulsion could be formed by AMN with an ultralow concentration (10 mg/L), while a stable interfacial film could be formed at higher concentrations(500mg/L). The low cost and simple synthesis of AMN make it a unique oil displacement agent with great interfacial properties and promise when compared to traditional nanosheets.