In Situ Soft Chemistry Preparation of ZrO2/pillared organoclay

In this work, nano-sized zirconium dioxide/pillared organoclay was prepared using ultrasound assistedimpregnation and compared with reflux method in detail. The results revealed that the use of sonochemical techniqueleads to produce thethinner particles with a uniform distribution in clay matrix comparedwith the reflux method. Lowangle degree of XRD pattern clearly demonstrated the entrapping of ZrO2 nanoparticles in the interlayer of exfoliatedorganoclay sheets. The prepared products were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronmicroscopy (SEM) and energy dispersion of X-ray spectrometry (EDX).