Silica bonded K10 montmorillonite (SBM)

Abstract

Using hydrothermal surfactant treatment, the broken clay layers of K10 montmorillonite (M) were bonded with fumed silica to form SBM (silica bonded M). SBM was characterized by BET surface area measurement, N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm, XRD, FTIR, IPA reaction, and pyridine FTIR acidity measurement. It was found that SBM is a new type of porous clay material having very high surface area (736 m2/g) and high pore volume. SBM also provides more opportunities to make use of the propensity of catalytic sites in M by exposing much more of these catalytic sites in M for various reactions.