Intercalation of both CTMAB and Al13 into montmorillonite

Clays intercalated with both organic cations and hydroxy-metal cations, also known as inorganic–organic clays (IOCs), have drawn great interests in the recent years because they possess the properties of both organoclays and pillared layered clays (PILCs). In this work, cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTMAB) and hydroxy-aluminum ([Al13O4(OH)24(H2O)12]7+ or Al13) were selected as the representatives of organic cations and hydroxy-metal cations, and three different methods were employed for the intercalation of montmorillonite at various CTMAB/Al13 ratios. This work aims to provide some novel information for clarifying the structural characteristics of IOCs. The experimental results showed that the structures of the resulting IOCs strongly depended on the intercalation methods and CTMAB/Al13 ratio. Both the intercalation agents could be intercalated into montmorillonite if they were used simultaneously for the intercalation, or if Al13 was intercalated after CTMAB, and the resulting IOCs were shown to have large basal spacing and small surface areas. However, if Al13 was intercalated first, the loading amounts of CTMAB would decrease significantly when the used Al13 amounts were relatively large (⩾4 mmol Al/g montmorillonite). This could be attributed to the “lock” effect of montmorillonite’s layers by the pre-intercalated Al13, and the basal spacing values of the resulting IOCs were shown to be equal to those of the PILCs.

The speculative and schematic drawing of the structural models of IOCs. It shows that the interlayer spaces of IOCs comprise Al13-dominated zone and CTMAB-dominated zone.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide