Palygorskite Research Articles

Effect of nanocomposite of attapulgite/EVA on flow behavior and wax crystallization of model oil

ABSTRACTNanocomposites of attapulgite (ATT)/ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) were prepared with organically modified ATT covering in EVA. Organically modified ATT was prepared using KH550 and organic acid. The effect of nano-hybrid on the flow behavior of model oil containing 15 wt% wax was evaluated. The wax crystallization and crystal morphology of the model oil at low temperature were observed by polarizing optical microscopy (POM). The results indicated that the nano-hybrid with long-chain organic acid-modified ATT exhibited a better effect compared with the nano-hybrid with short-chain organic acid-modified ATT, pure EVA. In addition, it is interesting to note that EVA (VA = 32%)/stearic acid-modified ATT composite polymeric pour-point depressant (PPD) S-AtPPD(32) provided better cold-flow improvement for the model oil than EVA (VA = 32%)-modified nano-SiO2 composite PPD N-SiPPD (32) with a low dose, which resulted in a regular, bar-shaped, and uniform arrangement of wax morphologies. The pour point of the model oil was reduced from 30°C to −1°C when doped at 200 ppm S-AtPPD(32).

Bimetallic Ni-M (M = Co, Cu and Zn) supported on attapulgite as catalysts for hydrogen production from glycerol steam reforming

Monometallic Ni and bimetallic Ni-Co, Ni-Cu, and Ni-Zn catalysts supported on attapulgite (ATP) were prepared by chemical precipitation method and evaluated in the glycerol steam reforming (GSR) reaction under the following conditions W/G = 9, N2 flow ratio = 0.16 L/min and GHSV = 9619 h−1. The prepared calcined and/or reduced samples were characterized by ICP-OES, N2 adsorption-desorption, XRD, TEM, FT-IR, XPS and H2-TPR. The analysis results showed the addition of second metals obviously decreased the crystal size and suppressed the reducibility of active metal, by improving the metal-support interaction. These were optimized characters could promote the steam reforming reaction and water-gas shift reaction (WGSR) to improve the catalytic performance. The experimental results of catalytic activity revealed the glycerol conversions and H2 yields over bimetallic catalysts were significantly higher than those over Ni/ATP catalyst. Among them, the Ni-Cu/ATP exhibited the highest the highest glycerol conversions and H2 yield in GSR reaction, while it had larger particle size (12.2 nm) than Ni-Co/ATP (8.6 nm) and Ni-Zn/ATP (10.3 nm), and the higher reducibility than other two bimetallic catalysts. It may be deduced that the crystal size and reducibility of catalyst all showed pivotal to impart suitable catalytic activity, while these characteristics should have an optimal proportion for obtaining the outstanding catalytic performance. The effect of temperature on catalytic performance over all catalysts was also investigated. It was found that increasing temperature was favorable for glycerol conversions and H2 yield, while the increase rate of H2/CO ratio was suppressed and CO/CO2 ratio were increased for all catalysts at high temperature range of 600–700 °C. It was attributed to that increasing temperature although improved the breakage of CC, CH, and CO bonds in glycerol, the WGSR mainly side-reaction for producing H2 was suppressed. The long-term experiments (30 h) were also conducted over all catalysts at W/G = 9, T = 600 °C, N2 flow ratio = 0.16 L/min and GHSV = 9619 h−1. The results demonstrated the outstanding stability was obtained over Ni-Zn/ATP catalyst. In order to account for the causes resulted in catalyst deactivation, all spent catalysts were characterized by XRD, TEM, TPO and TG-DTG. The results shown catalyst deactivation was mainly affected by the sintering of active species and coke formation on catalyst surface. The Ni-Zn/ATP bimetallic catalyst showed the outstanding stability attributed to the excellent anti-sintering and carbon deposition, which resulted from the formation of unique metal-support interaction.

Fabrication of a pH-Responsively Controlled-Release Pesticide Using an Attapulgite-Based Hydrogel

In this work, a pH-responsively controlled-release chlorpyrifos (PRCRC) was developed using a nanosystem consisting of chlorpyrifos (CPF), polydopamine (PDA), attapulgite (ATP), and calcium alginate (CA). Therein, CPF was adsorbed in the nanonetwork-structured PDA-modified ATP (PA) to obtain CPF-PA through hydrogen bonds and electrostatic attraction. Subsequently, CPF-PA combined with CA to form porous CPF-PA-CA hydrogel spheres (actually PRCRC) through cross-linking reaction, wherein PA acted as the skeleton. PRCRC spheres tended to collapse in alkaline solution and promoted the release of CPF, thus displayed a good pH-responsively controlled release performance, which was proved by the control efficacy test on grubs. Besides, the system could effectively protect CPF molecules from degradation under ultraviolet light. Importantly, the PA-CA hydrogel possessed a benign biocompatibility on Escherichia coli and foxtail millet, showing a high biosafety. Therefore, this work provides a promising approach to i...

Photo-assisted selective catalytic reduction of NO by Z-scheme natural clay based photocatalyst: Insight into the effect of graphene coupling

Photo-assisted selective catalytic reduction (photo-SCR) has been recognized as a promising strategy for NOx removal in recent decade, however rational designing of efficient and low-cost catalyst for photo-SCR remains to be a challenge. In the present work, natural one-dimension attapulgite (ATP) clay was initially coated with perovskite oxides by sol–gel method, and then coupled with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by electrostatic assembly. XRD, TEM, Raman, UV–Vis, XPS, NH3-TPD, H2-TPR and in situ EPR were employed to characterize the products. Results indicated that the framework was coherently integrated by ATP skeleton, LaCoO3 particles and rGO nanosheet, while rGO behaved as excellent electronic transmission mediator between ATP and LaCoO3 to achieve indirect Z-scheme system, thus significantly improved the charge-separation efficiency and redox ability of the nanocomposite. In situ EPR revealed that the photogenerated holes in the catalysts were captured by NH3 to produce NH2 radical, which produced NH2NO intermediate followed by decomposing into N2 and H2O. Photo-SCR of NO was performed using LaCoO3/ATP/rGO as catalyst under simulated solar-light irradiation. Results indicated that the introduction amount of rGO had critical effect on the NO conversion efficiency, which reached as high as 95% conversion rate and 100% N2 selectivity even under room temperature when the mass content of rGO was optimized to 0.6 wt%. In addition, SO2 and H2O tolerance experiment did not find noticeable deactivation of the obtained Z-scheme photocatalyst, which was attributed to the synergistic resistance effect between ATP and rGO.

Effect of mineral admixtures on the structural build-up of cement paste

Structural build-up is of great importance in many concrete applications, such as formwork pressure, multi-layers casting, slip form paving, stability, and 3D printing. In this paper, the growth of static yield stress (τs) and thixotropic area were used to characterize the structural build-up of cement paste. The effects of different mineral admixtures, i.e. silica fume (SF), ground slag (GS), fly ash (FA), attapulgite (AG), nano calcium carbonate (NC), and nano silica (NS) on the structural build-up of cement pastes were studied. Calorimetric curves, zeta potential and conductivity of the pastes were also measured. Results showed that thixotropic behavior characterized by the growth of τs and thixotropic area gave different ranking on cement pastes with various mineral admixtures. NS, AG, NC and SF increased the growth of τs over 120 min, and NS was the most effective one. FA and GS decreased the growth of τs over 120 min. Hydration of cement played a dominant role in the structural build-up of cement paste. However, high hydration rate didn’t always lead to high structural build-up rate.

Carbon quantum dots/attapulgite nanocomposites with enhanced photocatalytic performance for desulfurization

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs)/attapulgite (ATP) nanocomposite was prepared by a simple impregnation method. The ATP was initially modified with hydrochloric acid solution, which favored for the combination of CQDs due to the generation of hydroxyl group on the surface. XRD shows the decrease of interplanar spacing of ATP (1 1 0) plane, suggesting that the CQDs are immobilized on the surface of ATP. UV–Vis shows that the absorption peak of modified ATP is apparently red-shifted and the absorbance intensity of CQDs/ATP is higher than others. FT-IR and XPS show that the CQDs are immobilized on the surface of ATP through hydroxylation reaction. TEM shows that the average diameter of CQDs nanoparticles is about 5 nm and they are coated on the surface of ATP uniformly. The CQDs/ATP nanocomposite was employed as catalyst for photocatalytic degradation of dibenzothiophene (DBT) in model gasoline under visible light irradiation. The influence of the mass ratio of CQDs to ATP on desulfurization performance was investigated. The desulfurization rate of DBT could reach 93% when the mass ratio of CQDs/ATP is 3:10. The enhanced photocatalytic oxidative desulfurization was attributed to the sensitizing effect and up-conversion property of CQDs.

Adsorption properties and mechanisms of palygorskite for removal of various ionic dyes from water

In this study, an acid-treated palygorskite (PAL-O) with negatively charged layers has been used as an adsorbent for the removal of various types of ionic dyes including cationic [crystal violet (CV), cationic light yellow (7GL), and methylene blue (MB)] and anionic [methyl orange (MO) and acid green 25 (AG25)] ones from water. PAL-O showed efficient performance in the adsorption of all three cationic dyes because of electrostatic interactions. As regards the two anionic dyes, PAL-O also exhibited good adsorption efficiency for MO but had almost no effect on AG25. For detailed investigation of the adsorption mechanisms, PAL-O has been further treated by soxhlet extraction, using distilled water as solvent, to remove water-soluble matter such as metal ions. The efficiencies of the purified palygorskite (PAL-P) for adsorption of cationic dyes were slightly increased, but that of MO adsorption decreased evidently. This result indicated that the metal ions on the palygorskite played an important bridging effect for adsorption of anionic dyes. However, minimal AG25 uptake may occur because this bridging effect was too weak to be bonded for much stronger electrostatic repulsions between AG25 and palygorskite. In general, the charge properties and molecular structures of dyes play important roles in their adsorption behaviors.

Magnetic Attapulgite Nanoclay Decorated with Surface Imprinted Polymer Thin Film for Enhanced Selective Recognition and Adsorption of Sulfamethazine

Herein, we presented a simple synthetic strategy for fabricating magnetic nanoparticles uniformly dispersed on the surface of attapulgite (ATP), namely the impregnation and pyrolysis method. Subsequently, using magnetic attapulgite as supported core through chemical modification, a novel surface molecularly imprinted nanomaterial (named as MATP/MIPs) was prepared via precipitation polymerization. The obtained MATP/MIPs showed excellent properties by a variety of characterizations including FT-IR, SEM, TEM, VSM, XRD and TGA. Moreover, the adsorption experiments were carried out in aqueous medium at different temperatures, to study the adsorption isotherm, adsorption kinetics and selective recognition ability of MATP/MIPs toward sulfamethazine (SMZ). The experimental data were fitted to the Freundlich isotherm model better than to the Langmuir model. The equilibrium adsorption capacity for SMZ onto MATP/MIPs is higher than onto MATP/NIPs, demonstrating the existence of imprinted cavities. Due to the advantage of coated nanoshell, the adsorption equilibrium was achieved quickly within 45[Formula: see text]min, and the data were well-described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic mode. Compared with other antibiotics, the MATP/MIPs exhibited excellent selectivity for SMZ. In addition, the imprinted material still showed good regeneration ability after 10 cycles which make it possible for practical application in the recognition and separation of antibiotics.

Improvement of microcracks resistance of porous aluminium titanate ceramic membrane support using attapulgite clay as additive

Attapulgite (ATP) clay as an important ceramic raw material appears with natural nano-rod like morphology and widely co-exists with other minor minerals. To improve the mechanical performance and to reduce the sintering temperature of aluminium titanate (AT) ceramic membrane support, porous aluminium titanate ceramic has been prepared from Al2O3-TiO2 system mixed with attapulgite clay by solid-phase reaction at relative low temperature 1300°C. The added contents of attapulgite clay were 0%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25% and 30% in weight percent ratio, respectively. The phase composition, open porosity, strength, sintering behavior and microstructure as well as pore size distribution of porous aluminium titanate ceramic were systematically investigated. The XRD analysis suggests that the enhanced secondary phase mullite was produced when sintering temperature was above 1200°C with added attapulgite clays. The SEM images show that microcracks caused by the grain anisotropy of generated aluminium titanate were increased with the rising of sintering temperature. Both the maximum pore size and average pore size decrease with the increasing sintering temperature as the specimen was reacted with some attapulgite clay. Under the condition of 25wt% attapulgite clay addition and sintering temperature of 1300°C, the obtained porous ceramic membrane support of aluminium titanate has a open porosity of 32.41% and bending strength of 45.48MPa.

Preparation of a novel carboxylate-rich palygorskite as an adsorbent for Ce3+ from aqueous solution

A novel nanoscale adsorbing material, palygorskite (PGS) grafted polymethacrylic acid (PMAA) (PGS-g-PMAA), was successfully synthesized via atom-transfer radical-polymerization (ATRP). The grafting reaction was completed through a heterogeneous reaction in aqueous phase at normal temperature. Ce3+ was employed as a model to systematically investigate its adsorption performance. Meanwhile, the palygorskite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that PGS-g-PMAA with abundant and highly accessible carboxyl groups demonstrated exceptional adsorption capacity to Ce3+. When pH is 7, temperature is 298.15 K, and the concentration of Ce3+ is 300 mg/g, the adsorption capacity reached the maximum (160.2 mg/g). PGS-g-PMAA shows a high adsorption rate, it reached adsorption equilibrium only after 40 min. In the premise of keeping the original structure of PGS, PMAA was bonded to its surface through the covalent bond, and the grafting ratio was only 15.4%. The adsorbability of PGS-g-PMAA indicated that the carboxylate-rich palygorskite composite is a promising adsorbent for removing the rare earth ions in aqueous solution. And this conclusion shows that ATRP method is an effective method for grafting functional polymer onto the surface of mineral in the aqueous phase.

Fabrication of nano-sized attapulgite-based aerogels as anode material for lithium ion batteries

Silica-based material is regarded as one of the most potential anode materials for lithium ion batteries (LIBs) because of its high specific capacity, low discharge potential, and inexpensive cost. However, low conductivity and poor mechanical property block its practical application. In this work, we adopted a facile method to prepare attapulgite (AT)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) aerogel precursor and then the precursor was pre-oxidated and carbonized. The natural porous AT with nanofiber structure was used to provide high specific capacity. In addition, PAN was introduced to improve mechanical performance and enhance the electrochemical conductivity. This feasible method could form in situ continuous carbonized phase network structure, which impeded large volume expansion and improved electrochemical performance. As active anode materials of LIBs, the carbonized AT-based aerogels exhibited average discharge capacity of 534.6 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1 after 50 cycles and Coulombic efficiency reached over 97%. Overall, the fabrication approach is cost-effective and can be used on a large scale, which may fully take advantage of low-cost AT clay and PAN.

Intercalation Effect of Attapulgite in g-C3N4 Modified with Fe3O4 Quantum Dots To Enhance Photocatalytic Activity for Removing 2-Mercaptobenzothiazole under Visible Light

A novel magnetic intercalation Fe3O4-QDs@g-C3N4/ATP photocatalyst was first prepared by a combined eutectic method with deposition technology; it shows superior degradation efficiency for removing 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT) under visible light. The improved photocatalytic performance is mainly attributed to the intercalation effect of attapulgite (ATP) in g-C3N4 together with the quantum effect of Fe3O4 quantum dots (QDs) and the better conductivity between ATP and g-C3N4 resulting in the enhanced separation efficiency of photogenerated electron–hole pairs in the light absorption range. Moreover, insight into this mechanism indicates that the holes and superoxide radicals are the major active species in the MBT removal procedure. This work provides an efficient and promising approach to construct new high-performance g-C3N4-based photocatalytic materials for wastewater treatment.

Synthesis and catalytic performance of ZSM-5/MCM-41 composite molecular sieve from palygorskite

ZSM-5/MCM-41 composite molecular sieve has been hydrothermally synthesized through a two-step crystallization process using palygorskite (PAL) as silicon and aluminum source. The products were characterized by various means and their catalytic properties for acetalization of cyclohexanone and esterification of acetic acid and n-butanol were also investigated. In the first step ZSM-5 zeolite could be formed from the acid-treated PAL after hydrothermal treatment using tetrapropylammonium bromide as template. XRD patterns, N2 adsorption and desorption data, and TEM images show that the composite obtained in the secondary step had a well-ordered mesoporous MCM-41 phase and a microporous ZSM-5 zeolite phase. Compared with ZSM-5, ZSM-5/MCM-41 composite possessed more total acid amount, weak acid sites and large pore structure due to the formation of MCM-41 and exhibited higher catalytic activity for the acetalization and esterification reaction.

In Situ Polymerization and Characteristics of Biodegradable Waterborne Thermally-Treated Attapulgite Nanorods and Polyurethane Composites

This study used thermal treatment to modify attapulgite (AT) to form thermally treated attapulgite (TAT). The process involved removing the AT functional groups at 600 °C and using in situ polymerization to synthesize TAT water-based polyurethane (TAT/WPU) nanocomposite materials. Transmission electron microscopy results show that the TAT was evenly dispersed among the WPU matrices. Subsequently, the functional groups and elemental changes in the TAT/WPUs and the TAT distribution patterns in the WPU matrices were observed and analyzed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Tests were conducted using a thermogravimetric analyzer, in which the results showed adding 2 wt% of TAT yielded an initial decomposition temperature of approximately 14 °C and that the TAT/WPU glass transition temperature and dynamic glass transition temperature increased with the TAT content. A mechanical properties analysis showed that increases in TAT contents substantially increased the maximum stress and Young’s modulus. Atomic force microscopy and contact angle analysis revealed that increases in TAT content increased the TAT/WPU surface roughness and contact angles. Finally, the SEM results indicate that TAT/WPU hydrolytic degradation was influenced by test duration, ambient temperature, and TAT content. In particular, an ambient temperature of 45 °C and TAT content of 2 wt% induced a WPU weight loss rate of 14%.

Fabrication of composite nanofiltration membrane by incorporating attapulgite nanorods during interfacial polymerization for high water flux and antifouling property

A hybrid thin film composite membrane with high flux and enhanced antifouling performance was prepared by incorporating attapulgite (ATP) nanorods using the interfacial polymerization reaction of piperazine (PIP) and trimesoyl chloride (TMC). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the presence of ATP nanorods in the polyamide (PA) layer. The surface morphology and hydrophilicity of the thin film composite membranes were probed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and water contact angle goniometer. The existence of attapulgite nanorods in the polyamide layer increased the membrane hydrophilicity and the water flux up to 229.5Lm−2h−1MPa−1, which was 1.3-fold higher than PA membrane. Furthermore, the ATP-modified nanofiltration membrane kept a high salt rejection of 92% for Na2SO4 and dye rejection of 94.7% for Orange GII. Furthermore, the attapulgite nanorods also endowed the polyamide nanofiltration membrane with enhanced antifouling performance, a remarkably higher flux recovery ratio than the pristine polyamide membrane for various kinds of foulants including bovine serum albumin, humic acid and sodium alginate.

Synthesis of palygorskite-supported Mn1−xCexO2 clusters and their performance in catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde

Abstract Nano-scale Mn 1 − x Ce x O 2 catalysts supported on palygorskite (PG) with different dopant fractions were prepared by the co-precipitation method and applied in the catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde (HCHO). The obtained samples were characterized using BET, XRD, Raman spectroscopy, TEM, EDS, and H 2 -TPR to illustrate the physicochemical properties of the catalysts. After the introduction of cerium, the growth of manganese oxide was inhibited. However, an increase of the Ce/(Ce + Mn) ratio from 0.1 to 0.5 increased the particle size from 2.87 to 6.86 nm. A remarkable interface (grain boundaries) between MnO 2 and CeO 2 was observed, especially for low cerium molar fractions (0.1–0.4). The doping of cerium significantly enhanced the activity of manganese oxide for HCHO oxidation at 100–180 °C. The Mn 0.9 Ce 0.1 /PG catalyst exhibited the best activity, and HCHO was completely converted to CO 2 and H 2 O at 160 °C. The characterization results indicated that smaller particle size, surface-adsorbed oxygen species and abundant oxygen vacancies accounted for the high catalytic activity of the Mn 0.9 Ce 0.1 /PG catalyst for HCHO conversion. In addition, the Mn 0.9 Ce 0.1 /PG catalyst also displayed high stability in lifetime testing and excellent water-resistant performance. The experimental results suggest that palygorskite-supported Mn 0.9 Ce 0.1 is a promising catalyst for the catalytic oxidation of formaldehyde at low temperatures.

Waterborne Nonfluorinated Superhydrophobic Coatings with Exceptional Mechanical Durability Based on Natural Nanorods

AbstractPractical applications of superhydrophobic coatings are hindered by some issues, such as harmful chemicals, low mechanical durability, complicated methods, and expensive building blocks, etc. This study reports preparation of waterborne nonfluorinated superhydrophobic coatings with exceptional mechanical durability based on natural nanorods, palygorskite (PAL). A polyurethane (PU) aqueous solution and the homogeneous methyl polysiloxane‐modified PAL (PAL@M‐POS) suspension composed of methyltrimethoxysilane and the PAL nanorods in water are layer‐by‐layer spray‐coated onto glass slides for two times with PU as the adhesive layer. The PAL@M‐POS suspensions and the superhydrophobic PU/PAL@M‐POS coatings are studied using various analytical techniques. The influences of PAL and methyltrimethoxysilane on microstructure, wettability, and mechanical durability of the coatings are also investigated. The PU/PAL@M‐POS coatings feature high water contact angle (157.9°), low sliding angle (7.2°), and exceptional mechanical durability against sandpaper abrasion for 80 m and peeling with adhesive tape for 100 cycles. The mechanism behind the high mechanical durability is proposed. Also, the totally green method is simple, low‐cost, scalable, and applicable onto various substrates, which have paved the way for practical applications of the durable superhydrophobic coatings. This work provides a new avenue for the fabrication of waterborne, nonfluorinated, and mechanically durable superhydrophobic coatings using abundant natural nanomaterials.

Application of different activated attapulgites to purify phosphate contaminated wastewater

Phosphate adsorption capabilities of different activated attapulgites were investigated. The natural attapulgites were treated by thermal activation over 120–800 °C for 2 h, and by hydrochloric acid solution from 1%-9%, respectively. The mechanisms of phosphate adsorption of these modified products were also studied through adsorption isotherms and adsorption kinetics experiments. The acid activation increased the phosphate sorption capacity and the highest phosphate sorption capacity occurred at AAT3 (attapulgite activated by 3% hydrochloric acid), while thermal activation did not have the same effect. AAT3 showed higher adsorption rate than natural attapulgite (AT). The phosphate adsorption isotherms of AT, H400 and AAT3 are fitted well with Langmuir equation in terms of R2 values. It suggested that the adsorption of phosphate on attapulgite was homogeneous multilayer adsorption. Based on R2 values, the kinetics of phosphate adsorption on these three attapulgites can be satisfactorily described by pseudo-second-order kinetic equation. Results of this study suggested that acid modified attapulgite could be potentially used as a promising adsorption media for phosphate removal.

INTERACTION OF CLAY MATERIALS WITH LEAD IN AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

Five bulk clay samples were characterized by XRD, XRF, FTIR and SEM and tested for their effectiveness in removing lead ions from aqueous solutions. These were pal ygorskite, smectite and mixed palygorskite/smectite clays from Macedonia, Greece, as well as a montmorillonite-rich sample from Kimolos, Greece, and a palygorskiterich sample from Western Australia]. Lead removal was investigated as a function of the pH and ionic strength of the suspensions, the amount of sorbent and time, at con stant Pb2+ concentration (50mg/L) and temperature (22oC). The greatest potential fo r Pb2+ removal was found for the natural palygorskite/smectite clay

Effect of Hybrid Reinforcement Based on Attapulgite and Montmorillonite Nanofillers on the Mechanical Properties of Nitrile Butadiene Rubber

Attapulgite(ATP)/montmorillonite(Mt)/Nitrile Butadiene Rubber (NBR) nanocomposites were prepared from emulsions. The structure of the nanocomposites was characterized by TEM. The effect of ATP/Mt composites on the mechanical properties and swelling behavior was investigated. ATP/Mt composites addition had little effect on the cure times of the nanocomposites. When the ATP/Mt composites content was lower than 15 wt.%, the nanocomposites showed excellent mechanical properties.