화학공학소재연구정보센터
Langmuir, Vol.14, No.14, 3847-3857, 1998
Physical adsorption in micropores : A condensation approximation approach
An approach to adsorption in micropores is developed on the basis of the condensation approximation method. In the case of micropores with half-width less than 0.8 nm, a volume filling of the single micropore and a two-dimensional (2D) condensation on its walls occur at the same critical pressure, p(c). From this point of view, the statistical mechanical theories of adsorption on homogeneous surfaces considering lateral interactions may be taken to be a starting point to the description of physical adsorption in micropores. The increased well depth, epsilon*, in micropores causes the 2D condensation on their surface to occur at a smaller p(c) compared with a nonporous surface. As a consequence, the overall adsorption isotherm is determined by the distribution of micropore walls over adsorption energies resulting from a random distribution of micropore widths, d. Proceeding from a model of heterogeneity and the normal distribution of micropore widths, the log-normal distributions of micropore volumes over epsilon* and p(c) are obtained, and an occupied adsorption volume as a function of outer pressures is found. This approach has been successfully applied to seven benzene adsorption isotherms on four species of active carbons. It provides a correct description of equilibrium data in a wide temperature range, leads to reasonable distribution function of epsilon* and d, and gives values of an average micropore size that are close to the experimental one.