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Title: Short- and Long-Range Attractive Forces That Influence the Structure of Montmorillonite Osmotic Hydrates

Journal Article · · Langmuir
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Geosciences Division
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Energy Geosciences Division; Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Earth and Planetary Science
+ Show Author Affiliations

Clay swelling is a colloidal phenomenon that has a large influence on flow and solute migration in soils and sediments. While models for clay swelling have been proposed over many years, debate remains as to the interaction forces that combine to produce the observed swelling behavior. Using cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering, we study the influence of salinity, in combination with layer charge, interlayer cation, and particle size, on montmorillonite swelling. We observe a decrease in swelling with increased layer charge, increased cation charge, and decreased cation hydration, each indicative of the critical influence of Coulombic attraction between the negatively charged layers and interlayer cations. Cryo-TEM images of individual montmorillonite particles also reveal that swelling is dependent upon the number of layers in a particle. Calculations of the van der Waals (vdW) interaction based on new measurements of Hamaker coefficients confirm that long-range vdW interactions extend beyond near-neighbor layer interactions and result in a decrease in layer spacing with a larger number of layers. This work clarifies the short- and long-range attractive interactions that govern clay structure and ultimately the stability and permeability of hydrated clays in the environment.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1474979
Journal Information:
Langmuir, Vol. 32, Issue 46; ISSN 0743-7463
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 35 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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A Darcy‐Brinkman‐Biot Approach to Modeling the Hydrology and Mechanics of Porous Media Containing Macropores and Deformable Microporous Regions journal October 2019
Electrostatic shape control of a charged molecular membrane from ribbon to scroll journal October 2019
A molecular modeling study for miscibility of polyimide/polythene mixing systems with/without compatibilizer journal October 2018

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