CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

TiO2 organoclays are potential adsorbents for aqueous pollutants and subsequently they could favourthe pho-tocatalysis of them. For this reason, the study of their surface and textural characteristics is important for the improvement of those processes. In this work TiO2pillared organoclayswerestudied. The surfactant (hexa-decyltrimethilammonium bromide) was introducedpost-pillaring or during the pillaring process. The effect of the use of different acidsof hydrolysisand different surfactants ratios was investigated. The clays were characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, infrared spectroscopy and nitrogen sorptometry. It was found that the highest adsorption capacity post-pillaring of the surfactant is near to 0.5 times the CEC of the origi-nal pillared clay, independently of the amount of surfactant offered. An increment in the amount of the sur-factant introducedonly increasedthe ratioadsorbed as ionic pair. In these samples the CEC measured after the adsorption wasbetween 0.26 and 0.47 times the original CEC. It wasobserved a decrease in the total pore volume and the BET surface for every sample. The surface hydrophobicity of the samples with post-pillaring adsorption washigher than in those with co-adsorption. In conclusion, it was demonstrated that the incorpo-ration of surfactant modifies the surface and textural properties of the material in different extent in accord-ance with the incorporation stage and the amount of surfactant used.