Adsorption site

The moles of a solute species adsorbed per gram of adsorbent nl can be expressed in terms of the mole fraction of the solute on the surface N and the moles of adsorption sites per gram as... 

Various functional forms for / have been proposed either as a result of empirical observation or in terms of specific models. A particularly important example of the latter is that known as the Langmuir adsorption equation [2]. By analogy with the derivation for gas adsorption (see Section XVII-3), the Langmuir model assumes the surface to consist of adsorption sites, each having an area a. All adsorbed species interact only with a site and not with each other, and adsorption is thus limited to a monolayer. Related lattice models reduce to the Langmuir model under these assumptions [3,4]. In the case of adsorption from solution, however, it seems more plausible to consider an alternative phrasing of the model. Adsorption is still limited to a monolayer, but this layer is now regarded as an ideal two-dimensional solution of equal-size solute and solvent molecules of area a. Thus lateral interactions, absent in the site picture, cancel out in the ideal solution however, in the first version is a properly of the solid lattice, while in the second it is a properly of the adsorbed species. Both models attribute differences in adsorption behavior entirely to differences in adsorbate-solid interactions. Both present adsorption as a competition between solute and solvent. 

Most LB-forming amphiphiles have hydrophobic tails, leaving a very hydrophobic surface. In order to introduce polarity to the final surface, one needs to incorporate bipolar components that would not normally form LB films on their own. Berg and co-workers have partly surmounted this problem with two- and three-component mixtures of fatty acids, amines, and bipolar alcohols [175, 176]. Interestingly, the type of deposition depends on the contact angle of the substrate, and, thus, when relatively polar monolayers are formed, they are deposited as Z-type multilayers. Phase-separated LB films of hydrocarbon-fluorocarbon mixtures provide selective adsorption sites for macromolecules, due to the formation of a step site at the domain boundary [177]. 

Before entering the detailed discussion of physical and chemical adsorption in the next two chapters, it is worthwhile to consider briefly and in relatively general terms what type of information can be obtained about the chemical and structural state of the solid-adsorbate complex. The term complex is used to avoid the common practice of discussing adsorption as though it occurred on an inert surface. Three types of effects are actually involved (1) the effect of the adsorbent on the molecular structure of the adsorbate, (2) the effect of the adsorbate on the structure of the adsorbent, and (3) the character of the direct bond or local interaction between an adsorption site and the adsorbate. 

Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy. Several ESR studies have been reported for adsorption systems [85-90]. ESR signals are strong enough to allow the detection of quite small amounts of unpaired electrons, and the shape of the signal can, in the case of adsorbed transition metal ions, give an indication of the geometry of the adsorption site. Ref. 91 provides a contemporary example of the use of ESR and of electron spin echo modulation (ESEM) to locate the environment of Cu(II) relative to in a microporous aluminophosphate molecular sieve. 

The quantity zoi will depend very much on whether adsorption sites are close enough for neighboring adsorbate molecules to develop their normal van der Waals attraction if, for example, zu is taken to be about one-fourth of the energy of vaporization [16], would be 2.5 for a liquid obeying Trouton s rule and at its normal boiling point. The critical pressure P, that is, the pressure corresponding to 0 = 0.5 with 0 = 4, will depend on both Q and T. A way of expressing this follows, with the use of the definitions of Eqs. XVII-42 and XVII-43 [17] ... 

A variety of experimental data has been found to fit the Langmuir equation reasonably well. Data are generally plotted according to the linear form, Eq. XVn-9, to obtain the constants b and n from the best fitting straight line. The specific surface area, E, can then be obtained from Eq. XVII-10. A widely used practice is to take to be the molecular area of the adsorbate, estimated from liquid or solid adsorbate densities. On the other hand, the Langmuir model is cast around the concept of adsorption sites, whose spacing one would suppose to be characteristic of the adsorbent. See Section XVII-5B for an additional discussion of the problem. 

Since in chemisorption systems it is reasonable to suppose that the strong adsorbent-adsorbate interaction is associated with specific adsorption sites, a situation that may arise is that the adsorbate molecule occupies or blocks the occupancy of a second adjacent site. This means that each molecule effectively requires two adjacent sites. An analysis [106] suggests that in terms of the kinetic derivation of the Langmuir equation, the rate of adsorption should now be... 

Another limitation of tire Langmuir model is that it does not account for multilayer adsorption. The Braunauer, Ennnett and Teller (BET) model is a refinement of Langmuir adsorption in which multiple layers of adsorbates are allowed [29, 31]. In the BET model, the particles in each layer act as the adsorption sites for the subsequent layers. There are many refinements to this approach, in which parameters such as sticking coefficient, activation energy, etc, are considered to be different for each layer. 

Figure Al.7.9. Schematic diagram illustrating three types of adsorption sites.

Adsorbed atoms and molecules can also diflfiise across terraces from one adsorption site to another [33]. On a perfect terrace, adatom diflfiision could be considered as a random walk between adsorption sites, with a diflfiisivity that depends on the barrier height between neighbouring sites and the surface temperature [29]. The diflfiision of adsorbates has been studied with FIM [14], STM [34, 35] and laser-mduced themial desorption [36]. 

The balance between these different types of bonds has a strong bearing on the resulting ordering or disordering of the surface. For adsorbates, the relative strength of adsorbate-substrate and adsorbate-adsorbate interactions is particularly important. Wlien adsorbate-substrate interactions dominate, well ordered overlayer structures are induced that are arranged in a superlattice, i.e. a periodicity which is closely related to that of the substrate lattice one then speaks of commensurate overlayers. This results from the tendency for each adsorbate to seek out the same type of adsorption site on the surface, which means that all adsorbates attempt to bond in the same maimer to substrate atoms. 

The major role of TOF-SARS and SARIS is as surface structure analysis teclmiques which are capable of probing the positions of all elements with an accuracy of <0.1 A. They are sensitive to short-range order, i.e. individual interatomic spacings that are <10 A. They provide a direct measure of the interatomic distances in the first and subsurface layers and a measure of surface periodicity in real space. One of its most important applications is the direct determination of hydrogen adsorption sites by recoiling spectrometry [12, 4T ]. Most other surface structure teclmiques do not detect hydrogen, with the possible exception of He atom scattering and vibrational spectroscopy. 

Roux C D, Bu H and Rabalais J W 1992 Hydrogen adsorption site on the Ni 110 -p(1 time-of-flight scattering and recoiling spectrometry (TOF-SARS) Surf. Sc/. 271 68-80... 

Each molecule adsorbed in the first layer is considered to be a possible adsorption site for molecules adsorbing into a second layer, and each molecule adsorbed in the second layer is considered to be a site for adsorption into the third layer, and so on. 

Clotet A and Paoohlonl G 1996 Aoetylene on Cu and Pd(111) surfaoes A oomparatlve theoretloal study of bonding meohanlsm, adsorption sites, and vibrational speotra Surf. Sol. 346 91... 

The problem of the theoretical description of biopolymer water adsorption isotherms has drawn the attention of researchers for a long time. In the works [19], [20] a rigorous statistical basis for equations describing the isotherms for the case of homogeneous adsorption surfaces and noninteracting adsorption sites of N different types has been suggested. The general equation is ... 

The state of the surface is now best considered in terms of distribution of site energies, each of the minima of the kind indicated in Fig. 1.7 being regarded as an adsorption site. The distribution function is defined as the number of sites for which the interaction potential lies between and (rpo + d o)> various forms of this function have been proposed from time to time. One might expect the form ofto fio derivable from measurements of the change in the heat of adsorption with the amount adsorbed. In practice the situation is complicated by the interaction of the adsorbed molecules with each other to an extent depending on their mean distance of separation, and also by the fact that the exact proportion of the different crystal faces exposed is usually unknown. It is rarely possible, therefore, to formulate the distribution function for a given solid except very approximately. 

The BET treatment is based on a kinetic model of the adsorption process put forward more than sixty years ago by Langmuir, in which the surface of the solid was regarded as an array of adsorption sites. A state of dynamic equilibrium was postulated in which the rate at which molecules arriving from the gas phrase and condensing on to bare sites is equal to the rate at which molecules evaporate from occupied sites. 

An alternative way of deriving the BET equation is to express the problem in statistical-mechanical rather than kinetic terms. Adsorption is explicitly assumed to be localized the surface is regarded as an array of identical adsorption sites, and each of these sites is assumed to form the base of a stack of sites extending out from the surface each stack is treated as a separate system, i.e. the occupancy of any site is independent of the occupancy of sites in neighbouring stacks—a condition which corresponds to the neglect of lateral interactions in the BET model. The further postulate that in any stack the site in the ith layer can be occupied only if all the underlying sites are already occupied, corresponds to the BET picture in which condensation of molecules to form the ith layer can only take place on to molecules which are present in the (i — l)th layer. 

From the earliest days, the BET model has been subject to a number of criticisms. The model assumes all the adsorption sites on the surface to be energetically identical, but as was indicated in Section 1.5 (p. 18) homogeneous surfaces of this kind are the exception and energetically heterogeneous surfaces are the rule. Experimental evidence—e.g. in curves of the heat of adsorption as a function of the amount adsorbed (cf. Fig. 2.14)—demonstrates that the degree of heterogeneity can be very considerable. Indeed, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller adduced this nonuniformity as the reason for the failure of their equation to reproduce experimental data in the low-pressure region. 

At low adsorbate loadings, the differential heat of adsorption decreases with increasing adsorbate loadings. This is direct evidence that the adsorbent surface is energetically heterogeneous, ie, some adsorption sites interact more strongly with the adsorbate molecules. These sites are filled first so that adsorption of additional molecules involves progressively lower heats of adsorption. 

Adsorption (qv) of gases has been reviewed (40,50) (see also Adsorption, gas separation). Adsorption, used alone or in combination with other removal methods, is excellent for removing pollutant gases to extremely low concentrations, eg, 1 ppmv. When used in combination, it is typically the final step. Adsorption, always exothermic, is even more attractive when very large gas volumes must be made almost pollutant free. Because granular adsorbent beds ate difficult to cool because of poor heat transfer, gas precooling is often practiced to minimize adsorption capacity loss toward the end of the bed. Pretreatment to remove or reduce adsorbable molecules, such as water, competing for adsorption sites should also be considered (41). 

Electrostatic Interactions. This is the mechanism that operates when adsorption sites and reagents carry opposite electrical charge signs. 

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