Preparation of Ti-pillared Montmorillonite Tailored by Surfactant

A new method was proposed for preparation of photocatalyst TiO2-pillared montmorillonite with application of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a structure-oriented agent. The effect of amount of CTAB on the interlayer distance of Ti-pillared montmorillonite was investigated. And the differences of nano-TiO2 particle size and morphology before and after calcination at 500℃ were highlighted. The experimental results indicated that the “growth” of the hydrated Ti-polycations within clay interlayers could be regulated and controlled by the surfactant CTAB as the structure-oriented agent. FT-Raman spectroscopy and XRD were used to characterize the modified montmorillonite materials. The possible micro-mechanism of Ti-pillared montmorrilonite tailored by the surfactant CTAB was proposed. The modified montmorillonite material is expected to be an alternative to the preparation of water treatment materials with high adsorption capacity and photocatalytic activity.