Ultrafine Na-4-mica: uptake of alkali and alkaline earth metal cations by ion exchange

The cation exchange properties of alkali and alkaline earth metal cations at room temperature were investigated on an ultrafine, highly charged Na-4-mica (with the ideal mica composition Na4Mg6Al4Si4O20F4.xH2O). Ultrafine mica crystallites of 200 nm in size led to faster Sr2+ uptake kinetics in comparison to larger mica crystallites. The alkali metal ion (K+, Cs+, and Li+) exchange uptake was rapid, and complete exchange occurred within 30 min. For the alkaline earth metal ions Ba2+, Ca2+, and Mg2+, however, the exchange uptake required lengthy periods from 3 days to 4 weeks to be completed, similar to its Sr uptake, as previously reported. Kinetic models of the modified Freundlich and parabolic diffusion were examined for the experimental data on the Ba2+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ uptakes. The modified Freundlich model described well the Ba2+ ion uptake kinetics as well as that for the Sr2+ ion, while for the Ca2+ and Mg2+ ions the parabolic diffusion model showed better fitting. The alkali and alkaline earth ion exchange isotherms were also determined in comparison to the Sr2+ exchange isotherm. The thermodynamic equilibria for these cations were compared by using Kielland plots evaluated from the isotherms.