Tetra silicic mica – A synthetic support for nanoparticle generation and catalytic applications

Tetra silicic mica (TSM) is a synthetic clay mineral with structure and property similar to 2:1 type smectite clay. Well dispersed nanoparticles of palladium (1%) were generated in the interlamellar region of TSM using an adsorption excess isotherm. Adsorption excess isotherm was constructed for cetyltrimethylammonium cation (CTA+) exchanged TSM using ethanol:toluene binary mixture. The intercalated clay was characterised by using XRD, TEM, AAS and BET surface area analyses. The catalytic activity of the modified TSM was tested in vapor phase towards selective hydrogenation of few unsaturated aldehydes. The activity was found to increase while the selectivity decreased with temperature.