Synthesis and spectroscopic analysis of Illite clay - silica nanocomposite

Abstract

Illite clay silica nanocomposites (ICSiO2NCPs) were successfully synthesized from two samples Illite-clay and silica, and the silica was synthesized from rice husk using Sol-Gel Method. The prepared ICSiO2NCPs was characterized using UV-visible, FTIR, SEM and XRD analysis. The FTIR spectroscopy revealed the vO-H, vSi-O-Si, and vSi-OH stretching vibrations at around 3440, 798 and 913 cm^-1 respectively and also the Si-O, C-H O-H, and Si-O-Si deformation modes at 531, 1384, 1633 and 472 cm-1 respectively. The XRD analysis showed face centered cubic (FCC) structures with an average crystal size of 63.6 7nm. SEM analysis showed irregular spherical shape particles fused together at various sizes that are agglomerated at higher magnification. In the UV-visible analysis the wavelength of maximum absorbance was observed at around 400 nm characteristic of silica and ascribed to the wavelength of surface plasmon resonance phenomenon.