Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301

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Journal of Colloid and Interface Science

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Physical adsorption of organic molecules on the surface of layered silicate clay

platelets: A thermogravimetric study
V. Mittal ∗ , V. Herle
Department of Materials, Institute of Polymers, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Physical adsorption of various adsorbents on the surface of premodified montmorillonite platelets was
Received 14 June 2008 performed to fully organophilize the inorganic platelets for the purpose of their easy nanoscale dispersion
Accepted 17 August 2008 in the polymer matrices during compounding. Different extents of adsorption could be achieved owing to
Available online 9 September 2008
the nature and the functionality of the adsorbents. High molecular weight adsorbents not only enhanced
Keywords:
the organic coverage of the platelets but also were observed to contribute toward the thermal stability
Physical adsorption improvement of the organic modification, thus further fitting the use of such clays for high temperature
Adsorbents compounding. The amount of adsorption could also be quantified with respect to the initial amount
Montmorillonite of adsorbent used in the process. The importance of a clean surface free from any excess surface
Thermal analysis modification or adsorbent molecules was emphasized. The adsorption process is an effective means
to generate such high potential montmorillonites and is much simpler in technique than the common
methods of grafting of polymer chains from the clay surface.
© 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction proach is to use low molecular weight surfactants or compatibi-

Polymer nanocomposites have been a focus of vigorous research
in the recent years owing to the tremendous property enhance-
ment at very low inorganic filler volume fractions [1–7]. Lay-
ered silicate montmorillonites have been the inorganic material
of choice because of their easy swelling in water, thus allowing
subsequent surface modifications with alkyl ammonium ions [8–
11]. In the pristine state, these montmorillonite platelets are held
together by electrostatic interactions, thus leaving an interlayer be-
tween them. The modification at the polar surfaces reduces the
surface energy of the platelets and renders them organophilic and
partially polar, thus helping to disperse them in the polymer ma-
trices [8–11]. However, such modified montmorillonites are mostly
useful for polar polymer matrices like polyurethane, epoxy, and
polyamides, etc. [1–7]. The hydrophobic nature of polyolefin ma-
trices like polypropylene and polyethylene hinders the nanoscale
dispersion of these modified platelets as the completely nonpo-
lar chains do not intercalate the partially polar interlayers of the
stacks of montmorillonite platelets [12–16].
A number of approaches have been reported in the litera-
ture to overcome the negative interactions between the polyolefins
and the modified montmorillonites. The most commonly used ap-
* Corresponding author. Current address: BASF SE, Polymer Research, Lud-
wigshafen, Germany. Fax: +41 44 632 1082.
E-mail addresses: vikas.mittal@chem.ethz.ch, vikas.mittal@basf.com (V. Mittal).
lizers like polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) or
polyethylene grafted maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), which because
of their amphiphilic nature can bridge the polymer chains as well
as clay platelets. This approach of partially polarizing the matrix
by using polar compatibilizers like PP-g-MA and PE-g-MA leads to
enhanced intercalation and exfoliation; however, the mechanical
properties of the resulting nanocomposites suffer because of the
low molecular weight of the compatibilizers [13–18]. Another ap-
proach is to fully organophilize the partially polar surface of the
organically modified montmorillonite platelets so as to reduce the
electrostatic forces between them to a minimum. Such loosely held
stacks of the platelets can then be exfoliated in the polymer matri-
ces by using shear and thus do not require the positive interactions
for the polyolefins chains to enter the interlayers [12,19]. This sys-
tem is more like a kinetic entrapment of the polymer chains along
with clay platelets after cooling the melt in which clay platelets
were exfoliated by shear rather than a thermodynamic process of
filler exfoliation; however, it has been reported to be stable even
after several cycles of processing of the composite material at high
temperature [12,19]. The various techniques reported in the liter-
ature include modification of the clay platelets with ammonium
ions of longer chain lengths [12], grafting of oligomeric chains
“to” or “from” the clay surface [20–29], and chemical reactions
on the clay surface with reactive surface modifications [30–37].
These routes lead to increased basal plane spacing of the clay
platelets and reduced surface energy, thus making them suscep-
tible to exfoliation when sheared along with the polymer matrix.

0021-9797/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2008.08.036
296 V. Mittal, V. Herle / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301
As the cross-sectional area of the ammonium ion cation adsorbed
on the clay surface is much smaller than the area available per
cation in the montmorillonite with medium cation exchange ca-
pacity (CEC), the partially uncovered and hence partially polar sur-
face can also be fully organophilized by increasing the chain den-
sity of the alkyl ammonium modification on the surface owing to
its higher cross-sectional area [12,19]. For example, a better exfoli-
ation was reported when the montmorillonite platelets were mod-
ified with tetraoctadecylammonium and trioctadecylmethylammo-
nium ions as compared to conventional dioctadecyldimethylammo-
nium (2C18 ammonium) ions. However, owing to the solubility
limitations of these molecules, it is not very optimum to modify
the clay platelets with high chain density ammonium ions. On the
other hand, adsorption of long chain solvent-soluble molecules on
the surface of montmorillonite already modified with conventional
ammonium ions, e.g., dioctadecyldimethylammonium, can offer an
easy route which does not suffer from the solubility concerns [38].
These molecules (e.g., long alkyl chain alcohols) can adsorb physi-
cally in between the gaps generated after modification with am-
monium ions by forming H bonds with the OH groups present
either in the inside structure of clay crystals or on the edges of
the platelets. Also, the adsorption has been reported to take place
on the preadsorbed water molecules in the clay interlayers [39–
42]. Apart from that, difunctional or multifunctional molecules can
also be employed in order to generate much stronger adsorption
on the clay surface.
The present paper reports the trials of physical adsorption of
various adsorbents on the montmorillonite surface. The mont-
morillonite was modified with conventional ammonium ions and
was procured commercially. Adsorbents with different molecu-
lar weights and different numbers of functional groups in the
molecule were used and their adsorption on the clay surface
was quantified by using high resolution thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA). Trials with different routes to achieve optimum adsorption
on the surface were also carried out. The optimum amount of ad-
sorption on the clay surface was also quantified.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
Surface-modified bentonite with the trade name Tixogel VP was
procured from Southern Clay Inc. (Gonzales, TX). The montmoril-
lonite was premodified with dimethylditallow ammonium modifi-
cation. The as-received clay had average particle size of 2.5 μm and
narrow particle size distribution. The cation exchange capacity of
the clay was in the range of 880 μeq g−1 of clay. 1-Octadecanol,
1,2-hexadecanediol, 1,2-hexanediol, Tween 85 (polyethylene glycol
sorbitan trioleate), and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) were received
from Fluka (Buchs, Switzerland) and were used as received. Reac-
tion solvents tetrahydrofuran (THF), ethyl acetate, and alcohol were
purchased from Aldrich (Buchs, Switzerland).
2.2. Washing of surface-modified montmorillonite
The commercially procured modified montmorillonite was thor-
oughly washed before physical adsorption trials to remove the
excess of ammonium modification molecules generally present in
the commercially modified montmorillonites [43]. The clay was
suspended in 90:10 mixture of ethyl acetate and alcohol at 70 ◦ C
and was sonicated for 10 min (ultrasonic horn at 70% amplitude).
The dispersion was then sheared mixed by using high speed shear
mixer for duration of 10 min (Ultra-Turax, T50, IKA, Staufen, Ger-
many). The dispersion was kept at 70 ◦ C under stirring overnight
and was subsequently filtered and thoroughly washed on filter. The
wet clay was again suspended in ethyl acetate:alcohol mixture and
was similarly processed as before. Subsequently, the clay was fil-
tered and dried under reduced pressure at 70 ◦ C. The extent of
washing and the cleanliness of the surface were quantified by us-
ing high resolution thermogravimetric analysis. The washing step
was repeated if the low temperature degradation peak associated
with the excess surface modification was detected in the TGA ther-
mogram.
2.3. Physical adsorption
Two different methods were employed for physical adsorption
trials. In the first method (no solvent method), clay (2 g) and ad-
sorbent (1.5 g) were weighed and mixed in a mortar and heated
in the oven to mix the contents or to melt the alcohol, in case it
is in solid form. The mixture was stirred regularly and clay was
subsequently washed with THF to remove the excess of alcohol
molecules. In the second method (solvent method), the weighed
amounts of clay and adsorbents were added in THF. The contents
were thoroughly stirred and occasionally sonicated. The separation
of the clay from the dispersion was achieved by centrifugation as
it was not possible to filter the clay because of excessive swelling
of clay in THF. The contents were centrifuged a number of times
to clean the clay off the excess alcohol molecules.
2.4. Thermogravimetric analysis
Hi-resolution (Hi-Res) thermogravimetric analysis, in which the
heating rate is coupled to mass loss, i.e., the temperature is not
increased until the mass loss is complete at that particular temper-
ature, was performed on a Q 500 thermogravimetric analyzer (TA
Instruments, New Castle, DE) to quantify the amount of adsorp-
tion. The dried clay samples were measured in air stream using a
temperature range of 50–900 ◦ C.
3. Results and discussion
Physical adsorption of polar functional groups with terminal
long hydrophobic alkyl chains in the molecule can efficiently help
to organophilize the clay surface and decrease the surface energy
[39–42] so as to achieve their nanoscale dispersion when subse-
quently mixed with polymer matrices especially polyolefins. It is
also synthetically less cumbersome to achieve adsorption as com-
pared to more complex routes of grafting of polymer chains from
the clay surface or other chemical reactions on the clay surface.
However, it is very important to ensure that all the excess of the
added adsorbent is completely washed off as the excess adsorbent
may lead to thermal instability of the system when the inorganic
filler is processed at high temperatures. Fig. 1 shows the schematic
of such an adsorption process. The figure only serves to emphasize
the process of adsorption and does not provide information on the
order in which the adsorbent molecules are present along with
ammonium ions ionically bound on the surface.
Fig. 2 shows the chemical architecture of the various adsor-
bent molecules which were adsorbed on the clay surface. Alco-
hols with different chain lengths and different number of OH
groups in the molecules were employed to characterize the ef-
fect of these parameters on the achieved adsorption. Apart from
Fig. 1. Schematic of physical adsorption process on the clay surface.
 V. Mittal, V. Herle / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301 297

Fig. 3. Three-dimensional model of Tween 85 indicating the potential adsorption

sites.

Fig. 2. Chemical structures of the adsorbents used for adsorption on the clay surface:
(a) 1-octadecanol, (b) 1,2-hexadecanediol, (c) 1,2-hexanediol, (d) Tween 85, and (e)
PVP.

that, high molecular weight adsorbents with multiple functional

groups in the molecule like Tween 85 (polyethylene glycol sorbi-
tan trioleate) and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) were also chosen. These
entities with a large number of potential adsorption sites present
(a)
in their backbones can be expected to generate stronger and mul-
tiple bonds on the clay surface. As an example, in Fig. 3 is shown
the three-dimensional model of Tween 85 showing the large num-
ber of prospective sites which can enter into a physical bond on
the clay surface, thus securely bonding the high molecular weight
molecule on the clay surface. This strong bonding also helps to
avoid these molecules from being pulled away during washing or
other processing steps.
It has been reported that the commercially modified montmo-
rillonites contain an excess of surface modifier molecules, which
are thermally less stable and may induce unwanted interactions
with the adsorbent molecules and subsequently polymer matrix,
thus requiring cleaning the montmorillonite first [43]. Fig. 4a de-
picts derivative weight thermograms of Tixogel VP montmorillonite
before and after washing in ethyl acetate:alcohol mixture. The as-
received surface-modified montmorillonite had two degradation
peaks at 243 and 285 ◦ C (curve I). It is clear from the thermogram
of the washed clay (curve II) that the low temperature degradation
peak of 243 ◦ C owing to the presence of excess of surface modifier
molecules not bound to the clay surface could be efficiently elimi-
nated after washing. The total weight loss also reduced from 36.06
(b)
to 34.14% after washing, indicating the washing away of the excess
molecules. The weight loss of these clays plotted as a function of Fig. 4. (a) Derivative weight and (b) weight loss thermograms of organically modi-
temperature in Fig. 4b also confirms this notion. fied montmorillonite Tixogel VP before (I) and after (II) washing.
298 V. Mittal, V. Herle / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301
Table 1
Details of the physical adsorption on the clay surface
Adsorbent Molecular Total
weight, weight loss
g/mol in TGA, %
1-Octadecanol 270.49 40.17
1,2-Hexadecanediol 258.44 40.26
1,2-Hexanediol 118.17 47.88
Tween 85 1838.58 42.20
PVP (1 g initial) 10,000 54.72
PVP (1.5 g initial) 10,000 59.84
a
Values in dialcohols have been halved for quantitative comparison of the adsorption with monoalcohols.
Fig. 5. TGA thermograms of organically modified montmorillonite before adsorp-
tion (I), after adsorption with 1-octadecanol and one cycle of washing (II), and
after adsorption with 1-octadecanol and 10 cycles of washing (III). Inset shows the
derivative weight curves of these clays as a function of temperature. Results ob-
tained by the solvent mixing method are shown.
Trials with monoalcohol adsorption on the clay surface were
performed with 1-octadecanol. Though di- or multifunctional al-
cohols are expected to adsorb on the clay surface strongly as
compared to monoalcohols, owing to the single unbranched chain,
monoalcohols also do not suffer from the steric hindrance and can
easily adsorb on the clay surface. Fig. 5 shows the TGA thermo-
grams of the clay after adsorption (III) by solvent mixing method
compared with the reference clay (I). The results by using a mixing
method without solvent were also similar. The change in the TGA
curve as well as increase in the total weight loss indicates that a
certain amount of alcohol is adsorbed on the surface. The effect
of rigorous cleaning was once again demonstrated by comparing
curves II and III. Curve II is the TGA thermogram of the clay after
adsorption and with one cycle of washing, whereas the curve III
is the resulting thermogram after 10 cycles of washing and sub-
sequent washings yielding no change in the weight loss or the
peak positions in the thermogram. The thermal degradation peak
of the adsorbed alcohol molecules is also placed at higher temper-
ature than the case when a lot of excess of alcohol was present,
indicating better thermal stability of the alcohol molecules when
adsorbed to the clay surface. The inset in Fig. 5 also shows the
derivative weight thermograms of these clays and it is clear from
the curves that though the thermal stability of alcohol increased
after adsorption on the clay surface, the overall thermal stability
of the clay is decreased owing to the low molecular weight alco-
hol molecules attached to the clay surface. A total weight loss of
40.17% was observed in the clay sample after adsorption as com-
Weight loss Weight of Moles of Corresponding % of additional
due to adsorbed adsorbed CEC, μeq g−1 surface covered
adsorption, % material, g/g material,
of clay mol/g of clay
6.03 0.0452 1.74 e−4 237 26.96
6.12 0.0459 1.78 e−4 126a 14.33a
13.74 0.1030 8.72 e−4 674a 76.59a
8.06 0.0605 5.11 e−4 – –
20.58 0.1544 0.15 e−4 – –
25.70 0.1928 0.19 e−4 – –
pared to the 34.14% of the starting clay. Table 1 quantifies the
amount of alcohol adsorption calculated from the increase in the
weight loss in the thermogravimetric analysis. A value of 0.045 g
or 1.75 e−4 mol of octadecanol could be adsorbed per gram of
clay which represents a cation exchange capacity of 237 μeq g−1 .
This value when compared with the cation exchange capacity of
Tixogel VP of ∼880 μeq g−1 represents an additional 27% cover-
age of the available area on the clay surface. This result confirms
that the alcohol adsorption method can be a good route to fully
organophilize the clay platelets’ surface.
1,2-Hexadecanediol and 1,2-hexanediol were two diols used for
adsorption on the clay surface. The shorter chain 1,2-hexanediol
is expected to adsorb better owing to the less steric hindrance
and ease of movement on the clay surface. Table 1 shows that a
net weight loss of 40.26% was observed in the TGA thermograms
of clay adsorbed with 1,2-hexadecanediol prepared by both mix-
ing methods. The TGA thermograms of these washed clays are
depicted in Figs. 6a and 6b. Though the thermal stability of the
clay was partially reduced as in the case of octadecanol, signifi-
cant amounts of alcohols could be adsorbed onto clay surface. This
increased weight loss corresponded to an adsorption of 0.046 g
or 1.78 e−4 mol of hexadecanediol per gram of clay. These values
when corrected for the two OH groups in the alcohol molecule
lead to a representative CEC of 126 μeq g−1 and 14.33% of ad-
ditional platelet surface area covered per OH group adsorbed. In
this correction, the cation exchange capacity values and surface
coverage values are simply halved in order to compare these val-
ues with the cation exchange capacity and surface coverage of
monoalcohols. A much higher amount of adsorption was observed
when 1,2-hexadecanediol was replaced with 1,2-hexanediol. A to-
tal increase of 13.74% in the weight loss in TGA thermograms was
translated to a 0.10 g or 8.7 e−4 mol of hexanediol adsorbed on the
clay surface which is much higher than the adsorption achieved by
other long chain alcohols. It confirms that the mobility of the ad-
sorbent during the adsorption process has a very important role
in the amount of adsorption achieved. However, hexanediol has
a low molecular weight and has low temperature degradation;
therefore, it is not suitable to be used for commercial applica-
tions.
High molecular weight adsorbents with multiple adsorption
sites are more preferable choices because of there high temper-
ature stability as well as higher number of contacts on the clay
surface. Fig. 7a details the adsorption trials of Tween 85 on organo-
montmorillonite. Curve I is the derivative weight thermogram of
clay before adsorption, whereas curve II is the thermogram after
adsorption. The presence of a sharp peak at 223 ◦ C indicates the
presence of free Tween 85 on the clay surface. The peak is sig-
nificantly reduced when the same material is further washed for
more cycles (curve III), again stressing the need of a clean sur-
face for correct development of the interface between the clay
and the polymer when the modified clay is compounded with it.
Fig. 7b also shows the weight loss plotted against temperature for
these clays. A loss of 8.06% was observed for the clay modified
 V. Mittal, V. Herle / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301
(a)
(b)
Fig. 6. (a) TGA thermograms of organically modified montmorillonite before ad-
sorption (I) and after adsorption with 1,2-hexadecanediol (II) when mixed without
solvent and (b) TGA thermograms of the same clays when prepared by the solvent
mixing method. Insets show the derivative weight curves of these clays as a func-
tion of temperature.
with Tween 85. The peak degradation temperature in the modified
clay is observed at higher temperature of 309 ◦ C than the degra-
dation temperature of 285 ◦ C in the starting clay, indicating that
the adsorbent is synergistically modifying the clay surface and thus
contributing to the improvement of thermal stability of the system.
It is also worth noting that the onset thermal degradation temper-
ature of the clay adsorbed with Tween 85 is somewhat lower than
the unadsorbed clay, thus indicating that may be there are still
some unattached molecules left in the clay interlayers which could
not be washed. That is actually also the rationale of using the peak
degradation temperature as a comparison between the two clays
in this case to indicate that once the clay is fully cleaned off the
excess, the thermal degradation temperature can be enhanced by
25 ◦ C or more.
Similar to Tween 85, poly(vinylpyrrolidone) also showed syn-
ergism in the thermal behavior enhancement as the peak degra-
dation temperature of the PVP-modified clay increased to 332 ◦ C
(curve II in Fig. 8a), indicating much better thermal resistance than
the parent modified clay. This increased thermal resistance is par-
299
(a)
(b)
Fig. 7. (a) Derivative weight and (b) weight loss thermograms of organically mod-
ified montmorillonite before adsorption (I), after adsorption with Tween 85 and
few cycles of washing (II), and after adsorption with Tween 85 and rigorous wash-
ing (III).
ticularly beneficial when compounding the clay at high compound-
ing temperatures required by polymer matrices like polypropylene.
The mechanism of interaction leading to synergism can be ex-
pected to be same as the improvements in the thermal stability
of ammonium modification molecules when they are bound to
the clay surface because the clay surface shields these organic
molecules, thus delaying their decomposition. The weight loss in
the PVP-modified clay was increased by 25.7%, indicating that 0.2 g
of the polymer could be adsorbed per gram of clay. It is by far the
maximum adsorption achieved as compared to other adsorbents.
It is expected to have large adsorption in the case of PVP owing
to a large number of adsorption sites present in the backbones of
the polymer chains which can adsorb at different locations in the
clay platelets. The mechanism of adsorption can be defined in this
case as follows: the more electronegative oxygen atoms in the PVP
chains can form hydrogen bonds with OH groups present either
on edges or in the internal structure of montmorillonite or also
with the residual water molecules adsorbed on the surface of clay
platelets.
300 V. Mittal, V. Herle / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301
(a)
(b)
Fig. 8. (a) Derivative weight and (b) weight loss thermograms of organically mod-
ified montmorillonite before adsorption (I), after adsorption with 1.5 g of initially
added PVP (for 2 g of organically modified montmorillonite), (II) and after adsorp-
tion with 1 g of initially added PVP (for 2 g of organically modified montmoril-
lonite) (III).
It is important to note that as though the adsorbents were
used in excess during the adsorption reaction, the final adsorption
values may not represent the optimum or maximum achievable
values by this process. Therefore, it was also of interest to corre-
late the amount of adsorbed material to the amount of adsorbent
initially taken in the adsorption process. Curve III in Fig. 8a shows
the TGA thermogram of the PVP adsorbed clay when the initial
amount of PVP used in the adsorption reaction was 1 g. The in-
crease in TGA weight loss corresponded to 0.15 g of PVP adsorbed
per g of clay. The thermal stability of the resulting clay was also
inferior to the case when 0.2 g of PVP was adsorbed on the clay
surface by starting with 1.5 g of PVP for adsorption, confirming
that PVP adsorption provides more thermal stability. Fig. 8b also
shows the weight vs temperature plots of these clays, indicating
the exact changes and stages of weight loss. Two more trials where
higher initial amounts of PVP were used in the adsorption reaction
(2 and 2.5 g) generated the same amount of adsorption as 1.5 g
of initially taken PVP (0.2 g per g of clay) and the TGA plots are
indistinguishable with curve II of Fig. 8a. Fig. 9 shows the phe-
nomenon graphically. The adsorption first grows with increasing
Fig. 9. Extent of PVP adsorption on the clay surface as a function of initial amount
of PVP taken for the adsorption process.
Fig. 10. TGA thermograms of benzyl(2-hydroxyethyl)methyloctadecylammonium
(BzC18OH)-modified clay (I) and modified clay after esterification reaction with do-
triacontnoic acid (lacceroic acid) (II) [37].
the amount of initially added PVP; however, it reaches a plateau
after a certain extent of adsorption has been reached and beyond
that increasing the amount of initial PVP has no affect on the fi-
nal extent of adsorption. This result clearly demonstrates that the
amount of surface coverage of the clay with the adsorbent can be
finely controlled.
The results obtained with various adsorbents establish the
fact that physical adsorption is an efficient and easier approach
to achieve organic modification of clay platelets. The modi-
fied montmorillonites so obtained represent high potential ma-
terials for their susceptibility for nanoscale dispersion in the
polymer matrix when mixed at higher temperatures. For ref-
erence, Fig. 10 also shows the TGA thermograms of benzyl(2-
hydroxyethyl)methyloctadecylammonium (BzC18OH)-modified clay
and the clay after surface esterification reaction with dotriacont-
noic acid (lacceroic acid) [37]. An increase of 18 wt% was achieved
in the organic weight loss after the surface reaction. Physical ad-
sorption results are also on similar lines and can be achieved with
less effort along with enhancement of thermal stability, indicating
the usefulness of this approach along with other chemical modifi-
cation techniques.
 V. Mittal, V. Herle / Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 327 (2008) 295–301
4. Conclusions
Organically modified montmorillonite could be additionally ad-
sorbed on the surface with adsorbents of different molecular
weights and numbers of adsorbing moieties. The low molecular
weight adsorbent could adsorb in large amounts owing to bet-
ter mobility on the clay surface; however, as a result, the thermal
degradation of the organic modification also onsets at a lower tem-
perature. Adsorption of high molecular weight adsorbents was very
effective in improving the organic coverage of the clay as these
adsorbents contained multiple numbers of adsorption moieties in
their molecules. The thermal resistance of the organic modifica-
tion on the clay surface was enhanced synergistically too. It was
also observed that there exists an optimum amount of adsorbent
which can be adsorbed on the clay surface. After the optimum
amount has been reached, no further adsorption occurs irrespec-
tive of the initial amount of adsorbent added during the adsorption
process. The thermal behavior as well as interfacial interactions of
the modified clays is dependent on the extent of cleanliness of the
clay surface. The modified clays generated by the physical adsorp-
tion method represent high potential loosely held layered silicate
platelets with minimal electrostatic forces between them and are
susceptible to easy delamination by shearing during compounding
with the polymer matrices.
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