• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.1323-1328
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• 2006

Mesoporous nickel intercalated aluminosilicate nanohybrid has been synthesized through a recombination reaction between the colloidal suspension of exfoliated montmorillonite nanosheets and aqueous nickel acetate solution. According to powder X-ray diffraction and field emission-scanning electron microscopic analyses, the intercalation of nickel species expands significantly the basal spacing of the host montmorillonite clay and the crystallites of the intercalation compound are assembled to form a house-of-card structure. $N_2$ adsorption-desorption isotherm measurements with BJH pore analyses clearly demonstrated that the porosity of the intercalate originates mainly from mesopores (diameter $\sim50\;\AA$) formed by the house-of-card type stacking of clay crystallites. From FT-IR and X-ray absorption spectroscopic analyses, it becomes certain that intercalated nickel ion is stabilized in an isolated $NiO_6$ octahedral unit. The present mesoporous intercalation compound is expected to be applicable as efficient catalysts or absorbents.