Interaction of Surface Modified Silica Nanoparticles with Clay Minerals

摘要

The interaction of silica nanoparticles with montmorillonite clay was investigated by visual swelling tests and analytical techniques such as Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The adsorption of silica montmorillonite was also studied with a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The effects of particle size, concentration, and surface type on the adsorption were presented in detail. Silica nanoparticles with four different surfaces (unmodified, surface modified with anionic (sulfonate), cationic (quaternary ammonium (quat)), or nonionic (polyethylene glycol (PEG)) surfactant) were used. The adsorption of unmodified and sulfonate modified nanoparticles on clay was insignificant. However, PEG and quat/PEG modified nanoparticles adsorbed significantly on montmorillonite. Adsorption isotherms were calculated for those nanoparticles. Additionally, it does not appear that the particle size significantly influences the extent of adsorption.