Synthesis and Characterization ofImidazolium Based Ionic Liquid-Intercalated

Intercalation of ionic liquid in clay, mostly imidazolium based ionic liquid has been
recently evaluated. However, from the results obtained they have shown low
expansion of the interlayer spacing after the process. The low expansion of the
interlayer spacing is most probably due to ineffective intercalation process as the
process is affected by many factors such as Cations Exchange Capacity (CEC) values
of the clay, concentration of ions, temperature and reaction time. Besides that, the
commercially available organic modifier has lower thermal stability and caused a
limited usage of commercial organo-clay as adsorbents. Thus, ionic liquids which
have high thermal stability can be a good alternative to replace the lower thermal
stability of conventional organic modifier. Therefore, this project which based on
modification of clay with ionic liquids is proposed to analyze other factors that can
affect the intercalation process. The parameters that were taken into account;
different types of exchangeable cations (e.g. Na+and Ca2+) and types ofhalides in the
imidazolium based ionic liquid. The other parameters such as types of clay,
concentration of ions, temperature and time of reaction were kept constant. Then, the
efficiency of intercalationwas measured as expansion of the basal spacing by X-Ray
Diffraction (XRD) analysis, while the thermal stability was evaluated via thermo
gravimetric analysis (TGA). Additional qualitative characterization such as Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis and observation of morphology structure using
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were also conducted. From the results
obtained at the end of this project, the bentonite with Na+ exchangeable cations had
shown anexpansion in its interlayer spacing (from 13.70 Ato 13.90 A) when reacted
with l-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride. Moreover, all the samples had shown a
high thermal stability characteristic through TGA Analysis. Thus, they have the
potential to encounter the limited usage of commercial organoclay as adsorbents
which has low thermal stability.