Structural properties of cationic surfactant/pentanol/water systems and their interaction with negatively charged layer silicates

Hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide/pentanol/water and hexadecylpyridinium chloride/pentanol/water liquid crystalline systems were investigated. We studied the influence of water and pentanol on the swelling and rheological properties of lamellar liquid crystalline systems. We studied the possibility of inserting negatively charged layer silicates in these cationic surfactant/pentanol/water systems. Combining the adsorption data from X-ray diffraction, the composition of adsorption layer was calculated. After addition of Na-montmorillonite to the liquid crystalline system, the silicate lamellae were built up into the ordered liquid crystalline structure. Therefore, in the case of adsorption from aqueous solution, ordered liquid crystalline structure appears in the adsorption space between the silicate layers, and this structure determines the degree of swelling and the adsorption layer composition on the solid silicate surface.