Improving of the adsorption capacity of halloysite nanotubes intercalated with dimethyl sulfoxide

Abstract

Algerian halloysite intercalated with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) was prepared. The starting (H) and resulting (H-DMSO) materials were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, thermal analysis, transmission electron microscopy, pore-size distribution analysis, and employed as crystal violet (CV+) adsorbents from aqueous solutions. Intercalation reaches a rate of 95% and increases the basal spacing to 11.2 Å. (CH3)2SO interacts with the inner surface hydroxyls of halloysite through new hydrogen bonds with the S=O groups. The release of DMSO occurs in two phases: a partial elimination at 195 °C and a second part due to the DMSO combustion at 277 °C. The TEM image of H-DMSO reveals halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) polydisperse in length and diameter. A heterogeneous distribution in the nanotube size was highlighted with pore diameters of 10–11, 20.6, 28.6, and 37.0 nm, in correlation with transmission electron microscopy. The Redlich–Peterson equation describes efficiently the CV+ adsorption onto the modified sample. H-DMSO adsorbs 93.6 against 50.9 mg g−1 for the starting material. This improving of the adsorption capacity of DMSO-intercalated HNTs, was explained via the behavior of the intercalated DMSO molecules. Intercalation constitutes a key procedure for developing new nanocomposites, attractive in technological applications, such as effective adsorbents.