Recently, a new sort of nano-composites has been prepared by incorporating such fine particles as metal oxide microcrystallites and organic polymers into the interlayer space of montmorillonite. Owing to their extremely large specific surface area, the nano-composites are finding wide application[1∼3]. However, the topographic features of the microstructures have not been elucidated as yet In the present work, the microstructures of iron oxide-pillared montmorillonite have been investigated by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy.Iron oxide-pillared montmorillonite was prepared through the procedure essentially the same as that reported by Yamanaka et al. Firstly, 0.125 M aqueous solution of trinuclear acetato-hydroxo iron(III) nitrate, [Fe3(OCOCH3)7 OH.2H2O]NO3, was prepared and then the solution was mixed with an aqueous suspension of 1 wt% clay by continuously stirring at 308 K. The final volume ratio of the latter aqueous solution to the former was 0.4. The clay used was sodium montmorillonite (Kunimine Industrial Co.), having a cation exchange capacity of 100 mequiv/100g. The montmorillonite in the mixed suspension was then centrifuged, followed by washing with deionized water. The washed samples were spread on glass plates, air dried, and then annealed at 673 K for 72 ks in air. The resultant film products were approximately 20 μm in thickness and brown in color.
