XRD and ATR/FTIR investigations of various montmorillonite clays modified by monocationic and dicationic imidazolium ionic liquids

Abstract Three different montmorillonites (Mts) labeled K10, KSF and SWy-3 were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and ATR/FTIR spectroscopy. The XRD results enabled validation of the purification process of the studied clays. In the spectral regions 3800–2600 and 1800-1300 cm-1, the study of different intensity ratios of peaks assigned to the O H bending and stretching modes displayed the specific vibrational behavior of SWy-3 which is certainly influenced by a greater proportion of Na+ in its structure. Before analyzing the clays modified by ionic liquids, we characterized two imidazolium based ionic liquids (ILs) with anion I-: [EMIM+] [I−] monocationic ionic liquid and [M(CH₂) IM2+] [2I−] dicationic ionic liquid. The passage from [EMIM+] [I−] to [M(CH₂) IM2+] [2I−] reveals significant vibrational changes through various modes: ν(N H), rings ν(C C), rings ν(C N), ν(CH2(N)), ν(CH3(N)) in addition to anion interaction modes. When purified, these ionic liquids modify clays, the XRD analysis shows that the studied modified clays exhibited higher d-value increase with respect to the purified Mts, and the reflection peaks 2θ (°) of plane (001) were displaced towards lower values as a consequence of the ionic liquid intercalation process. ATR/FTIR spectra recorded in the spectral zone 4000-600 cm-1 indicated the appearance of new peaks and a significant intensity variation between clays in relation to the type of chosen ionic liquid. These vibrational changes are directly connected to the presence of ionic liquids in clays. XRD and ATR/FTIR investigations show a stronger effect of the [M(CH2) IM2+] [2I−] dicationic ionic liquid on the Mts than the monocationic ionic liquid and the SWy-3 Mt is more sensitive to monocationic and dicationic ionic liquids than K10 and KSF Mts.