Study of the porosity of montmorillonite pillared with aluminum/cerium

This study compares the porosity created in montmorillonites pillared with aluminum/cerium pillars with that of samples pillared only with aluminum. Studies of the pore size distribution indicate that the AlCe-pillared samples have a new porous system, with a pore size at the limit between microporosity and mesoporosity. The presence of larger pores in the AlCe-pillared samples is due to the inorganic polyoxycations intercalated between the clay layers. These polyoxycationes are larger than the keggin ion intercalated in the samples pillared only with aluminum. After successive thermal treatments the micropore volume is still high in the AlCe-pillared samples whereas the thermal stability of the micropore volume, developed after the pillared process, is lower in the Al-pillared samples, being reduced practically to zero after thermal treatment at the same temperature. Moreover, the two different types of pores generated in the AlCe-pillared samples show different thermal evolution and this compares them with the thermal evolution of the one single type of pores generated in the Al-pillared samples.