Modification of nanosized natural montmorillonite for ultrasound-enhanced adsorption of Acid Red 17.

This work aims to modify montmorillonite (MMT) via dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTMA) and investigate its ability in ultrasound (US) assisted decolorization of a polluted solution. BET surface area of MMT was increased from 19.76 to 42.57 m(2)/g and basal spacing of MMT structural layers was increased from 1.13 to 1.69 nm by DTMA modification. The application of DTMA-modified MMT (DTMA-MMT) and US for the decolorization of Acid Red 17 (AR17) showed that US could improve the ability of DTMA-MMT on decolorization of AR17 solution due to simultaneous adsorption and sonocatalysis. The ability of US assisted DTMA-MMT was slightly decreased with pH, the initial dye concentration and the presence of inorganic anions.