What is it about?
Clay mineral is an important material available in nature. With an increasing understanding of clay structure, montmorillonite is realized viable for an enhanced performance in a variety of materials and products in the areas of catalysis, food additive, antibacterial function, polymer, sorbent, etc. Significant development in the use and application of montmorillonite is seen in recent time. This chapter provides an overview of montmorillonite, structure, and properties and particularly discusses its recent utilization in important materials. Montmorillonite is introduced in terms of its natural sources, chemical structure, physical and chemical properties, and functional utilization. The important physical and chemical properties are summarized as particle and layered structure, molecular structure and cation exchange effect, barrier property, and water sorption. This is followed by the important functional utilizations of montmorillonite based on the effects of its chemical structure. The important functional utilization of montmorillonite includes food additive for health and stamina, for antibacterial activity against tooth and gum decay, as sorbent for nonionic, anionic, and cationic dyes, and the use as catalyst in organic synthesis.
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Why is it important?
Montmorillonite minerals provide an inexpensive source of material to be used as additive in the enhancement and development of numberous products. Moreover, the environment concerns, to date, do not indicate the adversity for particles used as additive. Studies will be useful which are clearly based on any montmorillonite structure to describe environmental effects.
Perspectives
The science of clay was introduced since prehistoric times. Ceramists used nanoparticles since antiquity; however, nanotechnology is the knowingly scientific utilization of nanoparticles. The use of kaoline may be traced back to the third century BC in China. China clay, a traditional name of kaoline, is a mixture of minerals generally containing kaolinite, quartz, mica, feldspar, illite, and montmorillonite. Today, when nanotechnology is the hallmark of scientific world, the contribution of clay mineral is significantly visible as highly useful fillers or additives in polymers for desired effects. Nanoclays, based on montmorillonite, are currently used to modify the polymer performance.
Professor Faheem Uddin
Iqra University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Montmorillonite: An Introduction to Properties and Utilization, September 2018, IntechOpen,
DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.77987.
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