Liquid-crystal behavior in Fe(OH)3/palygorskite non-aqueous dispersion

In this paper, non-aqueous Fe(OH)3/palygorskite dispersion was prepared and its liquid crystal phase behavior was investigated. Positively charged Fe(OH)3 colloidal particles were put in to non-aqueous and organically modified palygorskite dispersion. The effects of organically treated palygorskite and Fe(OH)3 on the preparation of stable palygorskite dispersion were characterized with FT-IR, XRD, Contact Angle measurement, Zeta potential detection, Settlement measurement and SEM, respectively. The addition of Fe(OH)3 particles shifted the concentrations of the coexisting isotropic and nematic phases to higher values while at the same time markedly accelerated the phase separation. The influence of Fe(OH)3 particles on the dispersion in magnetic field was also discussed.