Porous networks derived from synthetic polymer-clay complexes

Synthetic hectorites were hydrothermally crystallized with direct incorporation of a cationic polymer poly(dimethyl diallyl ammonium chloride) (PDDA), and two neutral cellulosic polymers hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC). Synthetic PDDA-hectorite displays the lowest d-spacing at 15.8 Angstrom along with less polymer incorporation (7.8 wt % organic) than the neutral polymers (18--22 wt % organic). Thermal analysis and small angle neutron scattering were used to further examine the polymer-clay systems. Clay platelets of the largest size and best stacking order occur when cationic PDDA polymer is used. PDDA also enhances these properties over the crystallites prepared for a control mineral, where no polymer is used. HEC acts to aggregate the silica, leaving less to react to form clay. The clay platelets which result from HEC are small, not stacked to a large degree, and oriented randomly. Neutral HPMC acts more like cationic PDDA in that larger clay platelets are allowed to form. The extended microstructure of the clay network remains undisturbed after polymer is removed by calcination. When no polymer is used, the synthetic hectorite has a N2 BET surface area of 200 M2/gm, even after calcination. This increases by 20--50% for the synthetic polymer-hectorites after the polymer is removed by calcination