Preparation and Characterization of New Magnetic Montmorillonite Clay Mineral by Intercalation of Iron Oxides in West Iraqi Layered Bentonite

Abstract

A new magnetic montmorillonite hybrid materials of iron (Fe II, Fe III) with Iraqi (Traifawi) montmorillonite were synthesized by mixing 15 g. of H – form initiated montmorillonite with 100 ml saturated aqueous solutions of different percent ratios of ferric and ferrous chlorides (FeCl₃ & FeCl₂) with continuous agitation at 60ºC, and the mixture is allowed to react for 24 h. to ensure maximum interlayer (Fe⁺³ & Fe⁺²) cations intercalation. The resulting Fe – intercalated montmorillonite solids were separated by centrifugation, washed several times with deionized water to free Hydrochloric acid (HCl), dried at 100 ºC for 24 h. (Fe II, Fe III)  –montmorillonite was characterized by Magnetic susceptibility measurement, X-ray diffraction (XRD), FT-IR spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The intercalated bentonite samples show high Magnetic susceptibilities due to increment or decrement of Magnetite and Hematite content in these clay samples. All the XRD patterns of iron (Fe II, Fe III) montmorillonite nanocomposites shows a red shift in the position of Montmorillonite mineral main peak due to the emergence of new magnetic clay mineral by intercalation of (Fe II, Fe III) in montmorillonite. Also the clay reflections, present some additional peaks that obviously originate from iron oxides (Hematite Fe₂O₃), and (Magnetite Fe₃O₄). FT-IR patterns of (Fe II, Fe III) – montmorillonite samples noticed the appearance of new peaks belongs to (Hematite) Fe₂O₃ stretching vibration, Fe-O stretching vibration, and (Magnetite Fe₃O₄) stretching vibration. SEM images of (Fe II, Fe III) – montmorillonite samples showed a change in the nature of the Montmorillonite clay surface.

Keywords: Intercalation, West Iraqi, Magnetic Montmorillonite, Layered Bentonite.