Effect of synthesis process on structure of kaolinite/nano silver intercalation compound

Kaolinite/nano silver intercalation compound was synthesized by chemical reduction intercalation method and hydrothermal intercalation method, using the kaolinite/dimethyl sulfoxide as precursor and the polyvinylpyrrolidone as dispersant. The structure of kaolinite/nano silver intercalation compound was investigated by XRD, FT-IR and TEM. The results shown that DMSO was successfully intercalated into the interlayer of kaolinite, which is necessary to synthesize nano silver in the interlayer of kaolinite. XRD patterns indicated that the crystallinity of nano silver obtained by the hydrothermal intercalation method is better than that obtained by the chemical reduction intercalation method. TEM images showed that the silver particle sizes obtained by two methods are in the nano-scale range and hydrothermal method is more easy to get narrow size distribution than chemical reduction method.