Thermal behavior study of pristine and modified halloysite nanotubes

Pristine halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) were studied by thermogravimetry (TG) up to 800 °C. Etching of alumina from inside the tube (causing a significant increase in tube lumen) was realized by treating the material with an acidic H2SO4 solution at 50 °C. Both materials were characterized by TG-FTIR techniques and their thermal behaviors were compared with that of kaolinite. The coupling of TG with FTIR enables to detect the gases evolved during the TG experiments, thus confirming that only pristine HNTs undergo dehydration with the loss of interlayer water molecules at around 245 °C, while dehydroxylation occurs in all these materials in close temperature ranges around 500 °C. TG runs at five different heating rates (2, 5, 10, 15 and 20 °C min-1), was carried out in the same experimental conditions used for the thermal analysis study with the aim to investigate dehydration and dehydroxylation kinetics using some isoconversional methods recommended by the ICTAC kinetic committee, and thermogravimetric data under a modulated rising temperature program. Finally, the results of the kinetic analysis were discussed and explained in terms of the strengths of the hydrogen bonds broken during these processes