Abstract
Polymethacrylamide/Na‐montmorillonite nanocomposites have been prepared by free‐radical polymerization. All the nanocomposites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential thermal analysis. The thermal properties of nanocomposites are notably improved by the presence of the montmorillonite layers in comparison with pure polymethacrylamide. X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy confirmed that polymethacrylamide could be easily inserted between the layers of Na‐montmorillonite to form intercalated nanocomposites, and significantly large d‐spacing expansions from 1.19 to 2.93 nm of the nanocomposites. Adsorptive properties of nanocomposites were also investigated.
Acknowledgements
The work was financially supported by the Ankara University Research Fund (Project Number 20040705040) and by the Turkish Scientific and Research Institute (Project Number 104T094).