Hi researchers,
I'm working with Bentonite clay and i'm trying to reduce the swelling bentonite using silica gel. At macro-scale level, swelling of clay was reduced by 70% which is what I expect. Now, I would like to go to micro-level behavior. Zeta potential measurements is my goal now but I'm new to this measurement. So I did measure the zeta potential of bentonite alone but now I would like to measure the zeta potential of the treated bentonite with silica gel. Is that a valid approach to talk about the change in zeta potential? if so what do I expect and how I interpret my data? lowering zeta potential , as I understand, compress the diffuse double layer. is that acceptable as interpretation ? any tips and advice would be appreciated. Thanks
If you mean the silica gel is present with the bentonite then using light scattering (e.g., Zetasizer) will give you results that are difficult to interpret. Both components are particulate and therefore scatter light. The instrument will "see" both.
If you can provide more information such as the composition of your dispersions (including particle size and concentrations), I can be more specific about the problems you'll likely run into.
John Francis Miller concentration is 1g of bentonite/ L. I do not know the size of silica gel but I can measure that using the same device. I know that the instrument will see both but that my new material (mixture of bentonite and silica gel). The idea is that I'm trying to figure out how silica gel reduced the swelling of bentonite.
What technique are you going to use? 1g/L might be too opaque for light scattering.
This paper should give you a good idea of the behavior of bentonite particles in aqueous liquids. Article The Colloidal and Rheological Properties of Bentonite Suspensions
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