Characterization of organic vermiculite prepared by different organic quaternary ammonium salts

Organic vermiculite was prepared by the reaction of native vermiculite through intercalation with organic quaternary ammonium salts with different length of carbon chain in aqueous solution. The intercalated vermiculite was characterized by X-ray diffraction and infrared spectroscopy. The results revealed that the interlayer spacing of intercalated vermiculite was enlarged with the increase of the length of carbon chain from 1.49nm to 5.66nm, and the longer the length, the larger of the interlayer spacing was. The interlayer spacing 5.66nm of the intercalated-vermiculite is the first obtained largest value in all the research of vermiculite till now. The peak of the intercalated-vermiculite changed from broad multiplicity to sharp singleness with the increasing of the length of carbon chain of the ammonium salts.