On the effect of Benzethonium intercalation process: Structural and dielectric properties of exchanged montmorillonite

Abstract The purpose of this work is to investigate the effect of Benzethonium (BZT) intercalation on the structural and dielectric properties of the Na- exchanged montmorillonite (M-Na). The X-ray diffraction analysis revealed the formation of an oriented structure where the interlayer distance increases significantly from 11.73 to 21.72 A. The infrared spectra depicted the characteristic vibrational bands of montmorillonite and hydrocarbon chains, confirming the intercalation process of Benzethonium. The results also showed that after exchange with BZT, only the OH bonds of the clay network remain in the structure. The temperature dependence of the complex dielectric constant shows a strong dispersion and a decrease with increasing the frequency. Furthermore, the dielectric strength of M-BZT was found to be weak by two ( e ' ) to one ( e ' ' ) order of magnitude compared to that of M-Na. The frequency dependence of the dielectric loss tangent reveals that higher dielectric losses occurs in the low frequencies range. The ac-conductivity displays two regions of dependence whatever is the temperature. The frequency dependence above 500 Hz, deviates from a linear behavior and varies as: ∝ f 1 - n , where: 0.2 n 0.3 for M-Na and 0.4 n 0.5 for M-BZT.