Monte Carlo Study of the Adsorption and Aggregation of Alkyltrimethylammonium Chloride on the Montmorillonite–Water Interface

Abstract

Organically modified clays exhibit adsorption capacities for cations, anions, and nonpolar organic compounds, which make them valuable for various environmental technical applications. To improve the understanding of the adsorption processes, the molecular-scale characterization of the structures of organic aggregates assembled on the external basal surfaces of clay particles is essential. The focus of this Monte Carlo simulation study was on the effects of the surface coverage and the alkyl chain length n on the structures of alkyltrimethylammonium chloride ((C(n)TMA)Cl) aggregates assembled on the montmorillonite-water interface. We found that the amount of adsorbed C(n)TMA(+) ions is independent of the alkyl chain length and increases with the C(n)TMA(+) surface coverage. The C(n)TMA(+) ions predominantly adsorb as inner-sphere complexes; the fraction of outer-sphere adsorbed ions equals only about 10%. The conformational order of the C(n)TMA(+) alkyl chains substantially decreases with decreasing alkyl chain length. In agreement with previous experiments, the amount of C(n)TMA(+) ions that are aggregated at the mineral surface increases with increasing chain length. The maximum value of 0.66 C(n)TMA(+) adsorption complex per unit cell area of the clay surface considerably exceeds the amount of cations required to compensate the negative charge of the montmorillonite surface. Furthermore, in most of the studied systems, fractions of Na(+) surface cations remain adsorbed on montmorillonite. The resulting interfacial positive charge excess is counterbalanced by coadsorbed chloride ions forming ion pairs with both C(n)TMA(+) and Na(+).