Structural difference between a superconducting sodium cobalt oxide and its related phase

Monolayer hydrate (MLH) NaxCoO2·y'H2O was obtained from superconducting bilayer hydrate (BLH) NaxCoO2·yH2O by partial extraction of H2O molecules between the CoO2 layers. Magnetization measurements indicated that electron densities in the CoO2 layer of the MLH phase remained unchanged after the water extraction. Nevertheless, superconductivity was completely suppressed in the MLH phase. This strongly suggests that the highly 2D nature in the BLH phase due to its thick insulating layers consisting of H2O molecules and Na+ ions plays an important role for inducing superconductivity