To develop an effective alkali extraction of amorphous SiO
2 from calcined kaolinite for preparation of mesoporous material, the effect of calcining conditions was examined. A Chinese kaolinitic clay sample was calcined at various temperature (850-1100°C) for 24hours. Each 3g of the calcined sample was suspended in 1N KOH solution (15ml) at 90 °C for 24hours, followed by washing and drying. When the samples calcined at 950 °C or more were selectively leached, mesoporous materials were obtained. The sample calcined at 1050 °C and selectively leached, showed narrow pore size distribution, and the specific surface area and total pore volume were 75.5m
2/g and 0.126ml/g, respectively. The water vapor adsorption isotherm also showed steep increase at the relative vapor pressure P/P
0=0.6, therefore this mesoporous sample was thought to be the candidate as humidity self-control material. Moreover, it was able to be confirmed from
29Si MAS NMR measurement that for the 950°C calcined sample the leaching of amorphous silica ended almost and remained Si existed in the mullite phase. Therefore, the calcining condition is important in making mesoporous material from kaolinitic clay by the selectively leaching processing.
View full abstract