Study of Physical, Chemical and Morphological Alterations of Smectite Clay upon Activation and Functionalization via the Acid Treatment

The present study was carried out on the effect of acid leaching on the modification and structure alteration of montmorillonite. A nanostructured, activated material was prepared by selective leaching of pure smectite clay with different concentrations of sulfuric acid (1 10 N/L) at 85 ̊C for 120 min using a solid/liquid ratio of 1:20 and a reflux system. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-Ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used for the characterization and study of the acid-treated montmorillonite clay. Chemical structure of specimens was distinguished by FTIR. The results showed that the formation of Si-OH bonds and leaching of Al ions increased progressively with severity of the acid treatment. As the FTIR studies indicated, acid treatment led to the removal of the octahedral Al cations and an increase in the Si-OH bonds. The morphological alteration of the untreated and treated montmorillonite was investigated by using TEM and SEM. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis revealed a considerable decrease in the relative content of Al by increasing the acid strength. Moreover, the XRD results showed that the treatment using highly concentrated acid resulted in the formation of an amorphous silica phase.