Issue 17, 2024

Swelling and delamination of inorganic homoionic montmorillonite clay in water–polar organic mixed solvents

Abstract

The smectite group of clay minerals (smectites) consists of negatively charged clay layers and interlayer exchangeable cations. They are spontaneously delaminated in water to form single clay layers when the interlayer cations are small alkaline cations such as Na+ or Li+. This phenomenon known as osmotic swelling has fundamental importance in constructing novel clay-based nanomaterials. However, osmotic swelling of smectites has not been systematically investigated in organic solvents although this phenomenon should be useful for developing novel clay–organic nanocomposites. We report herein that montmorillonite, a typical smectite, with monovalent and divalent inorganic interlayer cations shows osmotic swelling accompanied by delamination of clay layers in water–acetonitrile and water–2-propanol mixed solvents, although inorganic interlayer cations have been believed to be inappropriate for delamination of smectites in organic solvents. The delamination is confirmed by a combination of macroscopic sample appearances, XRD patterns, and SEM images. Montmorillonite with interlayer Na+ or Li+ ions shows osmotic swelling in pure water and the mixed solvents but not in pure organic solvents. Montmorillonite with alkaline earth dications in the interlayer spaces is swollen in water–organic mixed solvents but not in either pure water or organic solvents alone. Partial delamination in several systems can be clarified from SEM images even though the sample appearances and XRD patterns do not give firm evidence. Such non-uniform swelling behavior of montmorillonite is related to the disordered stacking of the aluminosilicate layers with different morphologies in the clay powders as observed by SEM.

Graphical abstract: Swelling and delamination of inorganic homoionic montmorillonite clay in water–polar organic mixed solvents

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 ဇန် 2024
Accepted
28 မတ် 2024
First published
01 ဧပြီ 2024

Dalton Trans., 2024,53, 7571-7579

Swelling and delamination of inorganic homoionic montmorillonite clay in water–polar organic mixed solvents

T. Nakato, M. Kubota, Y. Otsuka, Y. Yane, K. Orio, E. Mouri, Y. Yamauchi and H. Miyata, Dalton Trans., 2024, 53, 7571 DOI: 10.1039/D4DT00192C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements