No 3, Vol. 5, 2003 
 

POLYMER-LAYER SILICATE NANOCOMPOSITES: LINEAR PEO AND HIGHLY BRANCHED
DENDRIMER FOR ORGANIC WASTEWATER TREATMENT

K. Ratanarat1, M. Nithitanakul1, D. C. Martin2 and R. Magaraphan1

1 The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, THAILAND
2 Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering,
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA

Abstract

Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer, the polymer with highly-branched structure, was used in cooperation with montmorillonite (MMT), a smectite clay of high surface area in nanocomposite form which acts as an effective adsorbent in organic wastewater treatment applications. Due to the inorganic character of MMT, the organic adsorption ability of MMT was improved by replacing the exchangeable cations with octadecylamine and di(hydrogenated tallow)dimethylammonium chloride. The hyperbranched PAMAM/MMT nanocomposites were compared with poly(ethylene oxide)/MMTs, the nanocomposites with linear polymer molecules for organic waste adsorption. The ability to remove organic contaminants from aqueous solution, based on different molecular structures of organically modified clays, was evaluated using UV/VIS spectroscopy. The adsorption depend mostly on polarity and further enhanced by branching.

full paper (pdf, 94 Kb)