| dc.description.abstract | This work is devoted to the structural study of a clay/ionic liquid nanocomposite based on
phosphonium. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of the amount of ionic
liquid on the structure of montmorillonite and to follow the modifications occurring after its
incorporation between the clay layers.
In this study, bentonite rich in montmorillonite from the Maghnia deposit was used as a clay
material. The modification of the clay was carried out by a cation exchange process using
allyltriphenylphosphonium bromide as an ionic liquid. Four samples (ML1, ML2, ML3, and
ML4) were prepared by changing only the amount of ionic liquid added.
The obtained materials were investigated using two complementary techniques: X-ray
diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The XRD results
showed an increase in the interlayer spacing (d001) after clay modification, with a maximum
increase of about 5.6 Å, confirming the intercalation of the ionic liquid between the
montmorillonite layers. The study of the concentration effect also showed that increasing the
amount of ionic liquid promotes the expansion of the interlayer distance.
FTIR analyses confirmed the presence of the ionic liquid in the modified samples through the
appearance of characteristic bands and the changes observed in some bands related to the clay
structure. These results indicate the existence of interactions between the phosphonium cation
and the montmorillonite layers.
This study demonstrates the influence of the ionic liquid amount on the final structure of the
prepared nanocomposite and confirms the interest of using phosphonium-based ionic liquids
for the modification of clay materials. | en_US |