Intercalation of acrylic acid and sodium acrylate into kaolinite and their in situ polymerization

Novel nano-composites of poly (acrylic acid)-kaolinite were prepared, and intercalation and in situ polymerization were used in this process. The nano-composites were obtained by in situ polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and sodium acrylate (AA_Na) intercalated into organo-kaolinite, which was obtained by refining and chemically modifying with solution intercalation step in order to increase the basal plane distance of the original clay. The modification was completed by using dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO)/methanol and potassium acetate (KAc)/water systems step by step. The materials were characterized with the help of XRD, FT-IR and TEM; the results confirmed that poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(sodium acrylate) (PAA_Na) were intercalated into the interlamellar spaces of kaolinite, the resulting copolymer composites (CC₀ : copolymer-crude kaolinite composite, CC₁ : copolymer-DMSO kaolinite composite, CC₂ : copolymer-KAc kaolinite composite) of CC₂ exhibited a lamellar nano-composite with a mixed nano-morphology, and partial exfoliation of the intercalating clay platelets should be the main morphology. Finally, the effect of neutralization degree on the intercalation behavior was also investigated.