Liquid Sorption and Nanoparticle Intercalation in Layer-Structured Materials

Abstract Alkylammonium intercalated graphite oxides (R-GO), palladium intercalated alumina-pillared montmorillonites (Pd/Al2O3-PILC) and titania-pillared montmorillonites (TiO2-PILC) have been prepared and the intercalation materials have been characterized by BET surface area analysis, UV/VIS spectroscopy, ICP-AES, DTG-DTA, XRD and TEM measurements. R-GO particles were prepared by oxidation of natural graphite followed by organophilization with cationic surfactants. For TiO2-PILC and Pd/Al2O3-PILC the synthesis included the interlamellar adsorption of precursor species (polyaluminium-hydroxide, Pd-acetate and tetraethyl orthotitanate) from dilute solutions and subsequent chemical reactions at the montmorillonite/solution interface.