Intercalation of anionic surfactants into Zn-Al hydrotalcites of varying composition: preparation and characterization

The synthesis and characterisation of Zn-Al hydrotalcite-like compounds intercalated with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) have been investigated in details. The synthesis has been carried out following calcination-regeneration method. The organic modification was intended to derive hydrotalcite-like compounds appropriate for various applications such as polymer-HTlcs nanocomposite, and as scavengers of organic pollutants. The inorganic organic hybrid materials were characterised by a range of techniques such as XRD, XRF, FT-IR, TG DTA, and SEM. Characterisation data showed that pure phase of the series of hydrotalcites has been synthesised and cation molar ratios conform well to the expected ratios of Zn/Al cations in the different samples. Varying the ratios of the Zn2+/Al3+ results in distinguishing properties e.g. charge density, crystallinity, amount and orientation of anions in the interlayers and morphology. TGA showed differences in the temperature at which transitions were completed