Structure and thermal behaviour of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane modified montmorillonite

This paper reports the structure of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)–octaammonium in the interlayer space of montmorillonite. The ion exchange reaction was conducted with a large excess of POSS and yielded which was investigated by EDX, XRD, FTIR and TGA coupled with GC/MS. All eight aminopropyl groups of cubic POSS were flexible enough to interact with the negative sites on montmorillonite yielding an alignment of the POSS in the interlayer space. POSS–MMT complex was calcinated and characterized by XRD. Since the basal spacing did not change, the calcinated MMT was supposed to be stabilized by polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane pillars. This kind of open and stable pillared structure can be useful for many applications such as new supports for catalysis.