Influence of framework and interlayer on the colloidal stability of design swelling high-charged micas

Abstract

Stability of colloidal clay minerals dispersion of fundamental in many industrial processes. Therefore, surfacecharge of the synthetic swelling high-charged mica family, Na-Mica-n (n = 2 or 4, n is the total layer charge)were investigated to study its colloidal dispersion stability as a function of the framework and interlayer spacecomposition. Na-Mica-n (n = 2 or 4) micas were synthesized and functionalized with ethylammonium, mercaptoethylammonium or octadecylammonium. Their zeta-potential evolutions as a function of solution pH werecorrelated with their structural, compositional and morphological characteristics. The results have shown thatthe total charge of swelling high charged micas, Mica-n, didn´t affect significantly their colloidal dispersionstability, the interlayer composition and interlayer cation arrangement were the main factors of colloidal behaviour. The synthesis and functionalization of those synthetic micas can be tuned for their optimal use