Synthesis and characterization of heterostructured nanohybrid of MgO–TiO2–Al2O3/montmorillonite

New porous heterostructured nanohybrid of MgO–TiO2–Al2O3/montmorillonite has been successfully synthesized by an inflating, intercalation, and reassembling method under the ultrasonic vibration. The synthesized material was characterized by TGA–DTG, XRD, TEM and elemental analysis. The results showed that the material had a specific surface area of 156 m2 g−1 with an average pore diameter of 2.68 nm and pore volume of 0.6627 cm3 g−1, and that the MgO, TiO2 and Al2O3 nanoparticles were introduced in the montmorillonite by the heat treatment of 500 °C. It was found that the intercalation and deposition of mixed oxides nanoparticles expanded the basal spacing of montmorillonite, and the crystallites of the nanohybrids were assembled to form a heterostructured composite.

► Heterostructured nanohybrid of MgO–TiO2–Al2O3/montmorillonite was successfully synthesized.
► The synthesized material was characterized by TGA–DTG, XRD, TEM and elemental analysis.
► Formation mechanism of MgO–TiO2–Al2O3/montmorillonite was discussed.