Preparation and Antibacterial Activity of Modified Palygorskite with Quaternary Phosphonium Cations

Modified palygorskite (DTP-PA) were prepared by introducing different content of quaternary phosphonium cation of Dodecyl triphenyl phosphonium bromide (DTP) into sodium palygorskite (Na-PA) through ion-exchange method, and the structure and performance were characterizated. The results of TGA show that the onset temperatures of the decomposition for DTP in the DTP-PA are all higher than 220 degrees C, indicating preferable thermal stability. The SEM images show that Na-PA displays a lath-like or fibrous structure, DTP-PA is irregular shape, and the specific surface area of the DTP-PA decreased. The antibacterial activity of the DTP-PA increases with the increase of the content of DTP. DTP-PA-5 containing 18.8 % of DTP shows good antibacterial activity with the Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) against E. coli and S. aureus of 600 mg.L-1 and 100 mg.L-1, respectively. DTP-PAs display excellent long-acting antibacterial activity.