Analysis of the Efficiency of Surface Treatment of Bentonite Clay for Application in Polymeric Membranes

Abstract

The bentonite clay fillers are mostly used for the development of nanocomposites, due to having characteristics which provide to obtain in nanometric particles. The bentonite clay was treated with an ammonium quaternary salt to modify it to organophilic clay. The polymeric membranes and nanocomposites were prepared using the phase inversion technique. The bentonite and organophilic clays were characterized by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The membranes were characterized by XRD. The results of XRF, XRD and FTIR confirmed the presence of quaternary ammonium salt in the organoclay structure. The XRD diffraction patterns of nanocomposites membrane showed exfoliated and/or partially exfoliated structure. According to the obtained results, it could be seen that the treatment performed on the surface of the clay was quite promising and efficient to be added as nanofillers on polymeric membranes.