0000000000733051
AUTHOR
S.c. O´domhnaill
Capillary Hysteresis in Nanopores: Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Nitrogen Adsorption on MCM-41
Capillary hysteresis in cylindrical nanopores has been studied using MCM-41 as the prime example of a mesoporous material. These materials, due to their regular pore structure, can be considered to be candidates for reference adsorbents for standardizing adsorption measurements and methods for characterization of porous solids. They provide a unique opportunity for verification of theoretical models employed for predicting phase equilibrium in confined geometry. Three samples with monodisperse pore channels have been synthesized and examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). Nitrogen adsorption isotherms were modeled using nonlocal density functional theory (NLDFT) in a wide range of pore size…
Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Capillary Hysteresis in MCM-41
Mesoporous materials of MCM-41 type are considered to be reference model adsorbents due to their regular pore structure. Nitrogen adsorption isotherms on MCM-41 are modeled using the Non-Local Density Functional Theory (NLDFT). The thermal dependence of the thermodynamic hysteresis predicted by the NLDFT is confirmed by experimental measurements. The nitrogen hysteresis on MCM-41 at temperatures below 77.4 K or in pores greater than 4 nm is associated with the metastability of the adsorption branch of the isotherm. In the hysteresis regime, the desorption branch is likely to be thermodynamically stable and is recommended for calculating pore size distributions.