A natural smectite clay sample from Piauí State, Brazil, was organofunctionalized with 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane silyating agents. The basal spacing of 0.99 nm and surface area of 48 m² g-1 for natural clay increased to 1.84 and 2.01 nm, and 781 and 795 m² g-1 for modified clays, respectively. The natural and chemically immobilized clay samples adsorb mercury cations from aqueous solutions at pH 3.0 at 298 ± 1 K. The Langmuir, Redlich-Peterson and Toth adsorption isotherm models were applied to fit the experimental data with a nonlinear approach. From the cation/basic center interactions for each smectite at the solid-liquid interface, by using calorimetry methodology, the equilibrium constant and exothermic thermal effects were obtained. By considering the net interactive number of moles for each cation and the equilibrium constant, the enthalpy, "intHº (-11.98 to -13.93 kJ mol-1) and negative free Gibbs energy, "intGº (-22.4 ± 0.1 to -23.9 ± 0.1 kJ mol-1) were calculated. These values enabled the determination of positive entropy, "intSº (51 ± 01 to 55 ± 2 J K-1 mol-1). The cation-basic center interactions are spontaneous in nature as demonstrated from favorable enthalpic and entropic results. Natural and anchored smectites have the ability to complex mercury, acting as useful materials for removal of this hazardous metal from an ecosystem.
smectite; adsorption; mercury; thermodynamic
