Ultrasonic treatment and synthesis of sugar alcohol modified Na+-montmorillonite clay

Na+-montmorillonite clay (generally referred to as MMT) is very useful for reinforcing polymeric matrix at very low concentrations (typically, 2–5% wt). These clay particles are typically exfoliated before they can demonstrate the significant gains in heat deflection temperature, modulus, and elongation properties. In the case of hydrophilic biopolymer based matrices, such as carbohydrates and chitosan, exfoliating these nanoclay particles needs greater attention because the exfoliation is typically carried out using hydrophobic oligomers through ion-exchange. This study reports a new method of synthesizing completely hydrophilic MMT-assemblages using hydrophilic plasticizers for biopolymers. We used sugar alcohols (glycerol, xylitol with 3 and 5 hydroxyl groups) and polysaccharide maltodextrin to exfoliate the MMT. Sonication was conducted for MMT nanoclay and plasticizers at different weight ratios. It was confirmed that all plasticizer/modifier led to expansion of MMT gallery spacing (d-spacing) and the change in d-spacing could be related to the molecular structure of the plasticizer. Meanwhile, the extent of exfoliation was maximum with maltodextrin (fully exfoliation with 1:10 and 1:20 ratio of MMT:plasticizer) across all test samples and interestingly, glycerol and xylitol samples quickly established within the MMT galleries and exhibited minimal influence with further increase in relative concentrations.

► First report on using various polyols to modify nanoclay galleries by varying sonication power.
► Polyol concentration has little impact on increasing spacing within the nanoclay galleries.
► Orientation and folding of polyols greatly impact on altering the nanoclay gallery spacing.
► Larger molecule, viz. maltodextrin showed gallery spacing increased with higher concentration.