Nanocomposites of clay minerals and surfactants are of practical importance in many fields. Beside the use of these systems for pollution removal from waste water, they can also be used as catalysts, to stabilize clay formations while drilling for hydrocarbons, or for improving the strength of polymers. The nanocomposites are obtained through exchange of natural counter ions by ionic surfactant...

Naturally occurring clay colloidal particles are heavily involved in sediment processes in the subsurface soil. Due to the importance of these processes in the subsurface environment, the transport of clay colloidal particles has been studied in several disciplines, including soil sciences, petrology, hydrology, etc. Specifically, in environmental engineering, clay colloid release and transport...

Clay model experiments are commonly used to measure natural rates of predation and have become an important method in studying predator avoidance of aposematic frogs. Previous clay model experiments have demonstrated that conspicuous coloration in dendrobatid frogs is an effective deterrent to avian predators. It is generally assumed that predators recognize clay models as frogs, but few studie...

The subject of hybrids based on layered inorganic compounds such as clays has been studied for a considerable time, but the area is enjoying a resurgence of interest and activity as a result of the exceptional properties which can be realized from such nanocomposites. Common clays are naturally occurring minerals, and are thus subject to natural variability in their constitution. Many clays are...

After gaining considerable expertise in establishing and exercising waste management strategy by immobilization of high-level radioactive liquid waste (HLW) in borosilicate glass matrix followed by its interim storage, it is envisaged to focus on geologic disposal of radioactive waste packages. The multi barrier disposal system is considered one of the options for isolation of radioactive waste...

Polymer-clay nanocomposites (PCNCs) containing either a rubber or an acrylate polymer were prepared by drying or co-precipitating polymer latex and nanolayered clay (synthetic and natural) suspensions. The interface between the polymer and the clay nanoparticles was studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques by selectively addressing spin probes either to the surfactant layer (...

Copyright: © 2014 Xiong Li, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Soils are known to be “skin of the earth” and carry the material basis for human beings. As one of the basic disciplines of ag...

In this study, natural bentonite was used as natural clay material and samples were taken from the Kalecik district in Ankara. In this research, bentonite is the subject of an analysis from standpoint of assessing the basic properties of engineered barriers with respect to the buffer material. Bentonite and sand mixtures were prepared for tests. Some of clay minerals give relatively higher hydr...

– Microscopy observations show that suspensions of synthetic and natural nanolayered smectite clay particles submitted to a strong external electric field undergo a fast and extended structuring. This structuring results from the interaction between induced electric dipoles, and is only possible for particles with suitable polarization properties. Smectite clay colloids are observed to be parti...

Clay mineral studies in the U.S.S.R., mainly since 1960, are summarized. Electron diffraction techniques especially have been developed and used extensively. Methods have been developed for simultaneous recording of DTA curves and other properties. Polytypism of phyllosilicates has been studied intensively by Zvyagin and others. Mucfi new information on the structure and morphology of halloysit...