Intercalation of polyetheramines into α-zirconium phosphate

Intercalation phenomena are important to many fields of science including chemistry because of the possibility of combining properties of two materials in a host–guest composite. The intercalation of α-zirconium phosphate with Jeffamines of different molecular weight is investigated. The interlayer spacing depends on the Jeffamine's chain length. The compounds are characterized by X-ray diffraction, infra-red spectroscopy and NMR. Interlayer spacings as large as 88 Å were recorded. Similar intercalates were utilized to prepare an epoxy resin–zirconium phosphate nanocomposite.