Magnetization improvement of Fe-pillared clay with application of polyetheramine

Polyetheramine D2000 (O,O′-Bis(2-aminopropyl)polypropyleneglycol) was used as structural regulator to modify Fe-pillared clay mineral, and treated with acetic acid vapor prior to calcination for improving the magnetization of magnetically modified clay mineral. The magnetization of the magnetically modified clay mineral was improved to 26.78 emu g−1 with introduction of polyetheramine D2000 to Fe-pillared clay mineral at 70 °C. The molecular spectroscopy including FT-IR and FT-Raman, thermogravimetric analysis (TG) were used to characterize the magnetically modified clay mineral. XRD, SEM and TEM, UV–Vis Diffuse Reflectance spectroscopy (UVDRS) and magnetization measurement were applied to explore the structural information of the magnetically modified clay mineral. The results suggested that the magnetic species of γ-Fe2O3 nanophase particles were embedded on the surface of the modified clay mineral and the magnetization was improved significantly due to the increase of iron content by addition of polyetheramine D2000. A possible mechanism was suggested that the polyetheramine D2000 rodlike micelles were formed at 70 °C and interacted with polyhydrated iron to form adducts, which were treated in acetic acid vapor before calcination at 400 °C to produce magnetic species embedded on the surface of Fe-pillared clay mineral. The performance of the magnetically modified clay mineral was evaluated by adsorption of methyl orange and intensified separation by external magnetic field. The results indicate that its excellent performance on adsorption and magnetic separation makes a comprehensive application potential in chemical engineering and environmental pollution control.