Attapulgite is a magnesium aluminium phyllosilicate. It is abundantly distributed in Jiangsu, Anhui, Gansu provinces of China. Due to its special fibrous structure, extraordinary colloidal and adsorption properties, attapulgite has been widely used. However, attapulgite surfaces are rich in polar silanol groups, which makes it hard for attapulgite to be compatible with non-polar organic solvents. And this has limited the application of attapulgite.

Room temperature ionic liquids have excellent physical and chemical properties and can be compatible with many organic solvents. And the molecular structure of ionic liquids is designable. If ionic liquids can be bonded to the surface of attapulgite, then the modification of the surface structure of attapulgite might be achieved. And the functions of attapulgite can be enlarged and more attapulgite related products will be developed.

Researchers at R&D Center for Eco-material and Eco-chemistry, Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have prepared an attapulgite/ionic liquid composite material by utilizing ionic liquid molecules with a designable molecular structure to modify attapulgite, which provides a novel approach for increasing the compatibility between the attapulgite and diverse organic solvents.

The method bonds a functionalized ionic liquid containing a carboxyl functional group on the surface of the attapulgite through a covalent bond, and utilizes anion exchange to change hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of the attapulgite.

The preparation process is simple. The attapulgite composite material with controllable solubility and modified by the ionic liquid is expected to be applied in the fields of catalysis, sensors, novel nanometer materials, chemosynthesis, water treatment, food processing, mining, drug synthesis and so on.

The researchers have received a Chinese invention patent for the technique on November 30, 2011.