• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.64-71
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• 2020

A total of 262 bacterial strains were isolated from clay minerals, bentonite and zeolite, in Gyeongsangbukdo, Republic of Korea, and their hydrolytic enzyme activities were analyzed. Most of the isolated strains belonged to Micrococcales and Bacillales order. Of strains, 96 strains produced α-amylase activity, 42 strains showed cellulase activity, 111 strains had pectinase activity, and 70 strains showed protease activity. Among them, 177 isolates exhibited one or more of the hydrolytic enzyme activities and in particular Bacillus cereus MBLB1321, B. albus MBLB1326 and KIGAM017, B. mobilis MBLB1328, MBLB1329 and MBLB1330 showed all of the enzyme activities. These results demonstrate the diversity of functional Bacillus species in clay minerals as vital sources for the discovery of industrially valuable hydrolytic enzymes, which have a great commercial prospect in various bio-industrial applications.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.19-23
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• 2019

The PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate)/clay nanocomposites were synthesized by in situ radical polymerizations with different clay contents (3 and 7 wt%) using microwave heating. The nanostructure, optical, and thermal properties of the synthesized PMMA/clay nanocomposites were measured by XRD, TEM, AFM, UV-vis, and TGA. It was found that the intercalated- or exfoliated structure of PMMA/clay nanocomposites was strongly dependent on the content of clay. Thus, the imposition of microwave-assisted polymerization facilitated a delamination process of layered silicates to achieve exfoliation state of interlayer distance. The PMMA/3 wt% C10A nanocomposite with well-dispersed and exfoliated clay nano-layers showed the good optical transparency similar to pure PMMA in this study. The thermal decomposition rates of the PMMA/clay nanocomposites become to be lower compared to that of the pure PMMA, indicating the intercalated- or exfoliated inorganic silicate has high thermal stability. A possible reason is that the thermally segmental motion of PMMA polymer into inorganic silicate interlayer spacing has increased the thermal stability of the PMMA/clay nanocomposites.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.99-111
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• 2017

Nano particles have been gaining increasing attention and applied in many fields to fabricate new materials with novel functions due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In the present study two nano materials, namely nano silica (NS) and nano clay metakaolin (NMK) were partially replaced with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The replacement level was varied from 0.5 to 2.0% in OPC and blended in cement mortar with a water cement ratio of 0.40. Mechanical property studies and durability experiments such as compressive strength, tensile strength, water absorption, depth of chloride penetration test. Nano silica was synthesized from rice husk ash and analyze the size using particle size analyzer. The results indicate that the compressive and tensile strength of the cement mortars containing nano materials were higher strength compared to the plain mortar with the same water cement ratio.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2007

The approach studied in the present work produced an exfoliated state of clay layers via confinement of the charged nano-sized polystyrene (PS) beads within the gallery of swollen pristine clay. It was demonstrated that adsorption of the polymer nanobeads dramatically promotes expansion of the clay gallery. A comparative study of incorporation was conducted by employing organo-modified clay along with two different colloid polymer systems: electrostatically stabilized PS nanobeads and cationic monomer-grafted PS nanobeads. The mechanism of adsorption of the monomer-grafted polymer beads onto clay via cationic exchange between the alkyl ammonium group of the polymer nanobeads and the interlayer sodium cation of the layered silicate was verified by using several techniques. As distinct from the polymer nanobeads formed using conventional miniemulsion polymerization method, competitive adsorption of stabilizing surfactant molecules was be prevented by grafting the surface functional groups into the polymer chain, thereby supporting the observed effective adsorption of the polymer beads. The presence of surface functional groups that support the establishment of strong polymer-clay interactions was suggested to improve the compatibility of the clay with the polymer matrix and eventually play a crucial role in the performance of the final nanocomposites.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.17-25
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• 2014

Periodically, harmful algal blooms (HABs) have occurred, with impacts on various areas including public health, tourism, and aquatic ecosystems, especially aquacultured and caged fisheries. To prevent or manage invasions of HABs into fish farms on an emergency basis, many methods have been proposed. Frequently over the past 30 years in coastal countries, treatments of clay and clay mixed with polyaluminum chloride (PAC) and chitosan have been tested for HAB-removal effectiveness in both the laboratory and the field. In Korea, yellow loess clay (hwangto) has been dispersed using electrolytic clay dispensers, both to decrease the amount of yellow loess clay's usage in containers and enhance HAB-removal efficiency. However, this emergency method has limitations, among which is the requirement for more effective controlling agents for field applications. Thus, in this paper, we review technologies for clay-based red tides prevention and control and their limitations, and, further, introduce next-generation algicidal technologies for the emergency protection of fish farms.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 2003

Although clay can sorb significant amounts of inorganic contaminants from soils and wastewater, the hydration of exchangeable cations in clay minerals makes it hydrophilic at the clay mineral surfaces and interlayers. Thus, natural clays are often ineffective in complexing and stabilizing toxic organic contaminants in soils and groundwater environment. But, substituting these hydrated cations with cationic surfactant such as QAC(Quaternary ammonium Compound) can change the natural clay from hydrophilic to hydropobic. Furthermore functionalized organoclay can act as a powerful dual function sorbent for both toxic metals and organic compounds. It also can be used as landfill clay liners, slurry walls, nano-composite materials, petroleum tank farms, waste treatment, and filter systems. To use this modified clay minerals effectively, it is required to understand the fundamental chemistry of organoclay, synthetic procedures, its engineering application, bioavailability of sorbed ion-clay complex, and potential risk of organoclay. In this review, we investigate the use, application and historical background of the organoclay in remediation technology. The state-of-the-art of organoclay research is also discussed. Finally, we suggest some future implications of organoclay in environmental research.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF PACKAGING SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.99-104
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• 2009

Soy protein isolate (SPI)-based nanocomposite films with three different types of nanoclays, such as Cloisite $Na^+$, Cloisite 20A, and Cloisite 30B, were prepared using a solution casting method, and their optical, tensile, and water vapor barrier properties were determined to investigate the effect of nano-clay type on film properties. Among the tested nanoclays, Cloisite $Na^+$, a hydrophilic montmorillonite (MMT), exhibited the highest transparency with least opaqueness, the highest tensile strength, and the highest water vapor barrier properties, indicating Cloisite $Na^+$ is the most compatible with SPI polymer matrix to form nanocomposite films. The film properties of SPI/Cloisite $Na^+$ nanocomposite films were strongly dependent on the concentration of the clay. Film properties such as optical, tensile, and water vapor barrier properties improved significantly (p<0.05) as the concentration of clay increased. However, the effectiveness of addition of the clay reduced above a certain level (i.e., 5wt%), indicating that there is an optimum amount of clay addition to exploit the full advantage of nanocmposite films.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.187-193
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• 2002

Several methods have been used to synthesize polymer-clay nanocomposites. In-situ polymerization with clay belongs to a classical way to develop nano-structured materials, while melt intercalation is being recognized as another useful approach due to its versatility and environmentally benign character. In this research, we prepared polymer-clay nanocomposites based on the poly (methyl methacrylate) and organically modified montmorillonite via two-stage sonication process. According to the unique mode of power ultrasonic wave, the sonication during processing led to enhanced breakup of the clay agglomerates and reduction in size of the dispersed phase. Optimum conditions to form stable exfoliated nanocomposites were studied for various compositions and conditions. It was found that a novel attempt carried out in this study yielded further improvement in the mechanical performance of the nanocomposites compared to those produced by the conventional melt mixing process, as revealed by DMA, XRD and TEM. And rheological properties of nanocomposites were measured by ARES. As a result, sonicated PMMA-clay nanocomposites exhibits enhanced properties such as storage modulus and thermal stability than that of neat PMMA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Industry Convergence
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2014

Styrene-butadiene-styrene copolymer(SBS)/Clay nanocomposites were prepared by melt mixing method with organic clay modified with dimethyl dihydrogenated-tallow amine(Cloisite 15A) and methyl tallow bis (2-hydroxy-ethyl) amine(Cloisite 30A), respectively. From the results of XRD, we found that mono layered silicates were dispersed in SBS matrix and they were exfoliated nanocomposites. Mechanical properties of exfoliated SBS nanocomposites were more improvedl than those of SBS. Especially, it was found that the addition of small amount of organoclay was enough to improve mechanical properties without increasing hardness.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.1049-1051
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• 2000

A chromia-pillared clay has been prepared by ion exchange type intercalation reaction between the sodium ion in montmorillonite and the trimeric chromium oxyformate (TCF) ion, and by subsequent heat-treatment. The structural and thermal properties have been systematically studied by thermal analysis, powder XRD, IR spec-troscopy, and XAS. The gallery height of~6.8 $\AA$ upon intercalation of the TCF ion suggests that the $Cr_3O$ plane is parallel to the aluminosilicate layers. Even though the basal spacing of TCF intercalated clay decreases slightly upon heating, the layer structure was retained up to $550^{\circ}C$ as confirmed by XRD and TG/DTA. Ac-cording to the EXAFS spectroscopic analysis, it is identified that the (Cr-Cr) distance of 3.28 $\AA$ between vertex-linked CrO6 octahedra in TCF splits into 2.64 $\AA$, 2.98 $\AA$, and 3.77 $\AA$ due to the face-, edge-, and corner-shared CrO6 octahedra after heating at $400^{\circ}C$, implying that a nano-sized chromium oxide phase was stabilized within the interlayer space of clay.