Comparative study of the texture of montmorillonites pillared with aluminum and aluminum/cerium

This study compared the textural characterization of montmorillonite pillar ed with mixed aluminum cerium pillars with that of a sample pillared only w ith aluminum. In addition to the microporosity due to the aluminum pillars, the AlCe-pillared sample exhibited a new porous system, with a pore size a t the limit between microporosity and mesoporosity. The pore size distribut ion determined by the density functional theory and Horvarth-Kawazoe method s allowed estimation of pore volume and indicated two different types of po re in the AlCe-pillared sample. The two types of pore were also observed on t-plot analysis. The presence of larger pores in the AlCe-pillared sample is due to the inorganic polyoxycations intercalated between the clay layers . These polyoxycations are larger than the Keggin ion intercalated in the s ample pillared with aluminum alone.