Cation exchange dynamics confined in a synthetic clay mineral

In this work we report X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) measurements to investigate the confined cation exchange process in saline aqueous suspensions of a synthetic clay mineral from Lithium-Fluorohectorite to Nickel-Fluorohectorite, as well as the reverse process from Nickel-Fluorohectorite to Lithium-Fluorohectorite and also from Lithium-Fluorohectorite to Sodium-Fluorohectorite. The dynamics of these cation exchanges was followed and it was observed that these processes can be faster than 1 minute. The results are compared to the observations on samples prepared by cation exchange procedures for which the exchange process was performed on the time-scale of months.