Synthesis of some Mg/Co-Al type nano hydrotalcites and characterization

Hydrotalcites are quite prevalent in nature and their importance is growing more and more because of their very wide range of potential applications and uses. Because hydrotalcite does not exist in significant quantities in nature, coprecipitation methods are the most used for prepartion of hydrotalcite. In this study: Two types of Nano hydrotalcite compounds containing one divalent (Mg-Al) and two divalent cation(Co-Mg-Al) were synthesized based on aqueous solutions of corresponding nitrates by co-precipitation method. The molar ratio influences structure and performance of hydrotalcite largely. The crystallinity and crystallite size of the hydrotalcite were observed to varying with molar of M²⁺/M³⁺ ratio. The structure and morphology of the Nano hydrotalcites were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transformed Infrared spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. The crystallite size of the hydrotalcite was observed to increase when the Mg/Al molar ratio increases and, more significantly, when a second divalent cation (cobalt) was added.