Modified Clay and Zeolite Nanocomposite Materials: Environmental and Pharmaceutical Applications

The production of ‘nanocomposites’ has recently gained considerable attention from both the academic and industrial communities, especially in the area of nanoscience. Currently there is no limit to the possibility of applications.

Over the last decade, geomaterials have gained significant attention from many researchers, specifically in the use of naturally occurring nanomaterials such as zeolites and clay minerals. These materials can be suitably surface-modified in order to obtain properties that can be applied in the environmental and pharmaceutical fields. For example, modification with surfactants has given new motivation to the study of these materials by producing an inversion in the ion exchange behaviour from cationic to anionic. This strategy has paved the way toward new uses which were never hypothesized before, such as drug delivery in pharmaceutical preparations or waste water treatment.

Modified Clay and Zeolite Nanocomposite Materials retraces the most important knowledge gaps that the scientific community, involving mineralogists, chemists and material scientists, is facing at the moment, such as drawback in real world applications. This valuable resource explores and proposes the correct technological approach in novel applications of this group of nanomaterials.

Explores the combination of both minerals (clay and zeolite) together, with their application in two broad areas of emerging researchExplains better utilization and applications for modified clay and zeolite through detailed comparative studiesConsolidates information on the modification and tuning of clay and zeolite materials for novelty applications, helping end users in the effective selection of materials, surface features, and other functionalization for diverse applications

Preface Mariano Mercurio, Binoy Sarkar and Alessio Langella 1. Systematics, crystal structures and occurrences of zeolite G. Diego Gatta and Paolo Lotti 2. Zeolites as potential drug carriers Danina Krajišnik, Aleksandra Daković, Jela Milić and Marija Marković 3. Surface modification of zeolites for environmental applications Bruno de Gennaro 4. Natural zeolite - Alternative adsorbent in polishing or post-treatment of waters Eva Chmielewská 5. Modified clay minerals for environmental applications Binoy Sarkar, Ruhaida Rusmin, Uzochukwu C. Ugochukwu, Raj Mukhopadhyay and K. M. Manjaiah 6. Clay minerals in drug delivery systems Fátima García-Villén, Esperanza Carazo, Ana Borrego-Sánchez, Rita Sánchez-Espejo, Pilar Cerezo, César Viseras and Carola Aguzzi 7. Clay minerals for pharmaceutical waste water treatment Po-Hsiang Chang, Binoy Sarkar, Wei-Teh Jiang and Zhaohui Li 8. Recent advances in layered clays-intercalated polymer nanohybrids: Synthesis strategies, properties and their applications Kakarla Raghava Reddya, Ch. Venkata Reddy, B. Babu, K. Ravindranadh, S. Naveen and A. V. Raghu 9. Characteristics of clay minerals relevant to bioremediation of environmental contaminated systems Uzochukwu C. Ugochukwu 10. Clay minerals and zeolites for radioactive waste immobilization and containment: a concise overview Panagiotis Misaelides 11. Energy storage materials from clay minerals and zeolite-like structures Antonio Gil and Miguel A. Vicente 12. Zeolites and modified clays in environmentally sustainable building materials Chiara Molinari, Chiara Zanelli and Michele Dondi 13. Clay minerals and zeolites for environmentally sustainable agriculture KM Manjaiah, Raj Mukhopadhyay, Ranjan Paul, S.C.Datta, P. Kumararaja and Binoy Sarkar