Starting from the principle of ion exchange adsorption of organic cation on montmorillonite, we derived the theoretical isothermal adsorption equation and two dimensional surface equation of state.Moreover, method of analyzing experimental data from TGA was developed to determine the amount of adsorption.Experimental results of cation exchange adsorption of GTL, a kind of cation azobenzene dye, on montmorillonite agree well with our equation.Accordingly, a series of intercalation complexes were successfully prepared.After carefully investigating the intercalated dye in the nanoscopic interlayer space of montmorillonite we found three types of stable self assembling structures of nanocomplex: parallel single molecular layer, inclined head-to-tail interdigital structure and vertical head-to-tail interdigital double molecular layer.

Key words: montmorillonite, cation azobenzene dye, intercalation nanocomplex, ion exchange adsorption