A high-surface-area silica-clay composite material

Abstract

The crystalline clay layers of K10 montmorillonite (M), which is an acid-activated clay, could be transformed by a hydrothermal process using a mixture of surfactant and amorphous silica into silica-bonded K10 montmorillonite (SBM). Using this hydrothermal surfactant process, the surface area of clay could be increased substantially from 197 m2 g-1 (M) to 736 m2 g-1 (SBM). Being a new high-surface-area silica-clay composite material, SBM is shown to be a potentially new environmental material as it has been found to have very good acidic, adsorptive, and catalytic properties.