Synthesis and characterization of gordaite, osakaite and simonkolleite by different methods: Comparison, phase interconversion, and potential corrosion protection applications

Gordaite (NaZn4(OH)6SO4Cl·6H2O) is a mineral from the layered hydroxide salts (LHS) family that presents both cation- and anion-exchange properties, which is rare in this class of materials, having then called much attention lately due to its interesting potential applications. Sharing similar layered structure and composition, gordaite’s non-cation-exchanger analogous such as osakaite (Zn4(OH)6SO4·5H2O) and simonkolleite (Zn5(OH)8Cl2·H2O) show the possibility of interconversion reactions, in dynamics that might be of interest in technological applications such as corrosion protection. The materials can act as stimuli-responsive nanocontainers for storing corrosion inhibitors between the layers that might then be released on demand and avoid corrosion reactions on metals and alloys. In this work, we study the different methodologies for obtaining these LHS by synthesizing them by the oxide hydrolysis, co-precipitation by increasing pH and electrochemical methods, and comparing the obtained results.