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Thermodynamic assessment of the variation of the surface areas of two synthetic swelling clays during adsorption of water.

Lantenois S, Nedellec Y, Prélot B, Zajac J, Muller F, Douillard JM

Institut Charles Gerhardt, AIME (Agrégats, Interfaces et Matériaux pour l'Energie), CNRS, Université Montpellier 2, UMR 5253, CC 015, Place Eugène Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France.

Two synthetic smectites (montmorillonite and beidellite) are studied by a water adsorption technique in order to assess their specific surface areas under atmospheric conditions. A route recently proposed for extracting the thermodynamic data from experimental adsorption isotherms is used. The variation of the specific surface area during water adsorption is obtained, which can be linked to the enlargement of the interlayer space determined using X-ray diffraction. This variation is compared to an idealized specific surface area obtained from TEM and X-ray measurements in agreement with crystallographic models. All these results are also compared with those obtained previously for a natural montmorillonite. A simple view of swelling is proposed.

Published 9 November 2007 in J Colloid Interface Sci, 316(2): 1003-11.
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