Structural and textural properties of Al,Fe-pillared clay catalysts

Metal oxide pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) represent a new class of materials that have found a wide range of potential applications including catalytic oxidative degradation of organic pollutants in water. Al,Fe-pillared smectite clays with different Fe content were synthesized for possible catalytic application. Starting clay and the obtained PILCs were characterized. Phase composition, textural and morphological properties of the starting clay and synthesized PILCs were determined using X-ray diffraction, physisorption of nitrogen and scanning electron microscopy. Chemical composition of the PILCs was determined using EDX. It was found that the synthesized PILCs have similar phasal composition, textural and morphological properties differing only in Fe content in accordance with the amount of Fe introduced to clay during the pillaring process