New Antimony Substituted Mg-Al Layered Double Hydroxides

Abstract

No antimony hydroxide has been previously reported not only in solid state but also in aqueous solution, surely due to the fact that the formation of antimony oxide, Sb(2)O(3), is thermodynamically more favorable than that of the hydroxide phase, Sb(OH)(3). According to the pH dependent solubility diagram of Sb(2)O(3), antimony (III) hydroxide may not exist as a definite compound but be proposed as a hydrated monomeric molecular species, Sb(OH)(3)(aq), which is in equilibrium with Sb(2)O(3), under a condition of very small ionic strength. This is probably the reason why no Sb(3+)-containing layered double hydroxide, LDH, has been reported as yet. In the present study, an attempt has been made to prepare new Sb(3+)-LDH by substituting the Al(3+) in octahedral site partially with Sb(3+) upto approximately 10%. From the X-ray diffraction analysis, we found that the lattice constants (a = 3.075 angstrom, c = 23.788 angstrom) of the pristine, Mg-Al LDH, increased gradually upto those (a = 3.087 angstrom, c = 24.167 angstrom) of Sb-LDH (8%-substituted). Beyond 10%, the Sb substitution does not lead to any further increases of lattice constants but the impurity Sb(2)O(3) phase is formed. It is, therefore, concluded that the solubility limit of Sb(3+) in LDH would be around 10%. In addition, we were able to determine the chemical formula of Sb-substituted LDHs as follows, Mg(4)Al(1-x)Sb(x)OH(10)(CO(3))(1/2)center dot H(2)O (x = 0 similar to 0.08) on the basis of energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.