Abstract
Novel mesolamellar niobium phosphates have been synthesized using neutral and cationic surfactants. Long range ordered mesostructured lamellar phase was obtained with hexadecylamine (HDA) as a surfactant. A cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMABr) gives disordered lamellar structure. Influence of various parameters such as temperature, surfactant/Nb, H3PO4/Nb and method of preparation were studied. Mesolamellar spacing of compounds prepared using HDA is between 3.53 and 4.35nm, depending upon synthesis parameters.
