Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller

To obtain the monolayer capacity from the isotherm, it is necessary to interpret the (Type II) isotherm in quantitative terms. A number of theories have been advanced for this purpose from time to time, none with complete success. The best known of them, and perhaps the most useful in relation to surface area determination, is that of Brunauer, Emmett and Teller. Though based on a model which is admittedly over-simplified and open to criticism on a number of grounds, the theory leads to an expression—the BET equation —which, when applied with discrimination, has proved remarkably successful in evaluating the specific surface from a Type II isotherm. 

Langmuir referred to the possibility that the evaporation-condensation mechanism could also apply to second and higher molecular layers, but the equation he derived for the isotherm was complex and has been little used. By adopting the Langmuir mechanism but introducing a number of simplifying assumptions Brunauer, Emmett and Teller in 1938 were able to arrive at their well known equation for multilayer adsorption, which has enjoyed widespread use ever since. 

Now in principle each layer will have its own values of a, q, and v, and consequently the summation of Equation (2.11) cannot be carried out unless simplifying assumptions are made. Brunauer, Emmett and Teller made three such assumptions (a) that in all layers except the first the heat of adsorption is equal to the molar heat of condensation q, (b) that in all layers except the first the evaporation-condensation conditions are identical, i.e. that... 

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. 

Plot of pMp° - p) against p/p° (r is expressed in cm (stp)). (1) Unpromoted Fe catalyst (2) AljOj-promoted Fe catalyst (3) AI2O3-KjO-promoted Fe catalyst (4) fused copper catalyst (5) chromium oxide gel (6) silica gel. (Courtesy Brunauer, Emmett and Teller.)... 

The classical isotherm for multilayer adsorption on a homogeneous, flat surface is the BET isotherm [Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 60, 309 (1938)]... 

Surface Areas by the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller BET Method... 

Static Involving Use of Adsorption Isotherms BRUNAUER, EMMETT, AND TELLER (B.E.T.). In this method tire surface area is not measured directly, but the number of molecules of the adsorbed substance required to give a monolayer (N) is determined. If the mean area per molecule (a) of the adsorbed substance is known by other means, the area of the solid may... 

Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) analysis of pristine magnesium and y-MPS modified... 

The principle underlying surface area measurements is simple physisorb an inert gas such as argon or nitrogen and determine how many molecules are needed to form a complete monolayer. As, for example, the N2 molecule occupies 0.162 nm at 77 K, the total surface area follows directly. Although this sounds straightforward, in practice molecules may adsorb beyond the monolayer to form multilayers. In addition, the molecules may condense in small pores. In fact, the narrower the pores, the easier N2 will condense in them. This phenomenon of capillary pore condensation, as described by the Kelvin equation, can be used to determine the types of pores and their size distribution inside a system. But first we need to know more about adsorption isotherms of physisorbed species. Thus, we will derive the isotherm of Brunauer Emmett and Teller, usually called BET isotherm. 

BET method. The most commonly used method for determining the specific surface area is the so-called BET method, which obtained its name from three Nobel prize winners Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (1938). It is a modification of the Langmuir theory, which, besides monolayer adsorption, also considers multilayer adsorption. The equation allows easy calculation of the surface area, commonly referred to as the BET surface area ( bet). From the isotherms also pore-radii and pore-volumes can be calculated (from classical equation for condensation in the pores). 

A commonly used method of determining the specific surface area of a solid is by the adsorption of a gas onto the solid and the determination of the monolayer capacity. Most methods make use of the Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller equation, commonly referred to as the BET equation, for calculating the surface area on the basis of monolayer adsorption. The BET equation can be written as... 

Conventional bulk measurements of adsorption are performed by determining the amount of gas adsorbed at equilibrium as a function of pressure, at a constant temperature [23-25], These bulk adsorption isotherms are commonly analyzed using a kinetic theory for multilayer adsorption developed in 1938 by Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (the BET Theory) [23]. BET adsorption isotherms are a common material science technique for surface area analysis of porous solids, and also permit calculation of adsorption energy and fractional surface coverage. While more advanced analysis methods, such as Density Functional Theory, have been developed in recent years, BET remains a mainstay of material science, and is the recommended method for the experimental measurement of pore surface area. This is largely due to the clear physical meaning of its principal assumptions, and its ability to handle the primary effects of adsorbate-adsorbate and adsorbate-substrate interactions. 

Many individuals have developed more elegant theoretical treatments of adsorption processes since Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller published their classic paper. Nonetheless, the BET and Langmuir isotherms are the most significant ones for chemical engineering applications. 

The surface area of a solid material is important in that it provides information on the available void spaces on the surfaces of a powdered solid [48]. In addition, the dissolution rate of a solid is partially determined by its surface area. The most reproducible measurements of the surface area of a solid are obtained by adsorbing a monolayer of inert gas onto the solid surface at reduced temperature and subsequently desorbing this gas at room temperature. The sorption isotherms obtained in this technique are interpreted using the equations developed by Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller, and therefore the technique is referred to as the B.E.T. method [49]. The surface area is obtained in units of square meters of surface per gram of material. 

The adsorption of inert gases onto solid materials represents the most widely used method for the determination of surface area, although other methods are available [6,7]. The BET method, developed by Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller [8], is generally used for gas adsorption surface area measurements. 

Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller extended the Langmuir theory to multimolecular layer adsorption [8]. They related the condensation rate of gas molecules onto an adsorbed layer and the evaporation rate from that layer for an infinite number of layers. The linear form of the relationship is called the BET equation ... 

The intrinsic dissolution rates of pharmaceutical solids may be calculated from the dissolution rate and wetted surface area using Eq. (36) or (37). For powdered solids, two common methods are available the powder intrinsic dissolution rate method, and the disc intrinsic dissolution rate method. In the former method, the initial dissolution rate of one gram of powder is determined by a batch-type procedure as illustrated in Fig. 13A. The initial wetted surface area of one gram of powder is assumed to equal the specific surface area determined by an established dry procedure, such as monolayer gas adsorption by the Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) procedure [110]. 

III. MODELS DESCRIBING VAPOR ADSORPTION A. Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller Equation... 

A major advance in adsorption theory generalized the treatment of monolayer adsorption and incorporated the concept of multilayer adsorption. This is known as the BET theory after Brunauer, Emmett and Teller [32], The adsorption of a gas on a solid surface can be described by... 

The number of gas molecules can be measured either directly with a balance (gravimetric method) or calculated from the pressure difference of the gas in a fixed volume upon adsorption (manometric method). The most frequently apphed method to derive the monolayer capacity is a method developed by Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) [1], Starting from the Langmuir equation (monolayer adsorption) they developed a multilayer adsorption model that allows the calculation of the specific surface area of a sohd. The BET equation is typically expressed in its linear form as... 

In 1938, Brunauer, Emmett and Teller(12) and Emmett and de Witt(13) developed what is now known as the BET theory. As in the case in Langmuir s isotherm, the theory is based on the concept of an adsorbed molecule which is not free to move over the surface, and which exerts no lateral forces on adjacent molecules of adsorbate. The BET theory does, however, allow different numbers of adsorbed layers to build up on different parts of the surface, although it assumes that the net amount of surface which is empty or which is associated with a monolayer, bilayer and so on is constant for any particular equilibrium condition. Monolayers are created by adsorption on to empty surface and by desorption from bilayers. Monolayers are lost both through desorption and through the adsorption of additional layers. The rate of adsorption is proportional to the frequency with which molecules strike the surface and the area of that surface. From the kinetic theory of gases, the frequency is proportional to the pressure of the molecules and hence ... 

This acronym is derived from the names of its originators Brunauer, Emmett and Teller [83]. A major advance relative to the monolayer approach of Langmuir [84] is the incorporation of multilayer adsorption. The BET equation can be written as follows [79],... 

Wheeler [16] proposed that the mean radius, r, and length, L, of pores in a catalyst pellet (of, for that matter, a porous solid reactant) are determined in such a way that the sum of the surface areas of all the pores constituting the honeycomb of pores is equal to the BET (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller [17]) surface area and that the sum of the pore volume is equed to the experimental pore volume. If represents the external surface area of the porous particle (e.g. as determined for cracking catalysts be sedimentation [18]) and there are n pores per unit external area, the pore volume contained by nSx cylindrically shaped pores is nSx nr L. The total extent of the experimentally measured pore volume will be equal to the product of the pellet volume, Vp, the pellet density, Pp, and the specific pore volume, v. Equating the experimental pore volume to the pore volume of the model... 

The model of Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) assumes that the enthalpy of adsorption for the first monolayer of molecules is AHads and for all additional layers Ai-fy. Furthermore, it assumes that all layers are in equilibrium. With the following definitions ... 

The next set of examples show an entropy of adsorption roughly equal to the entropy change on losing the degree of translational freedom normal to the surface, i.e., in the adsorbed state the molecules are equivalent to a two-dimensional gas or vapor. The data for a variety of different adsorbates and adsorbents is given in Table V. The isotherms obtained by Armbruster (20) for the adsorption of CO and N2 on silver were not S-shaped, and they could be fitted to equations of the Langmuir type. The amount of adsorbate required to saturate the surface was given for each substance at both temperatures. Armbruster calculated the heats of adsorption by the method of Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (22) and there is some doubt about the validity of such heats. 

The BET method (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller, 1938) with N2 as the adsorbate, is by far the most common method of measuring the surface areas of Fe oxides. Various commerical instruments are available for these measurements. The method involves measuring the extent of adsorption of N2 (at the boiling temperature of liquid N2 - 77 K) on the outgassed solid as a function of the relative pressure, p/po. he. the adsorption isotherm p is the partial pressure of the adsorbate and po is its equilibrium vapour pressure. The following linear relationship exists between the amount adsorbed, v, (cm g ) and the relative vapour pressure, p/po, ... 

Brunauer, Emmett and Teller, in 1938, extended Langmuir s kinetic theory to multilayer adsorption. The BET theory assumes that the uppermost molecules in adsorbed stacks are in dynamic equilibrium with the vapor. This means that, where the surface is covered with only one layer of adsorbate, an equilibrium exists between that layer and the vapor, and where two layers are adsorbed, the upper layer is in equilibrium with the vapor, and so forth. Since the equilibrium is dynamic, the actual location of the surface sites covered by one, two or more layers may vary but the number of molecules in each layer will remain constant. 

The most definitive surface area measurements are probably those made by nitrogen adsorption using the BET theory. Neither the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) theory nor equation (11.5), used to calculate surface area from mercury intrusion data makes any assumptions regarding pore shape for surface area determinations. When these two methods are compared there is often surprisingly good agreement. When... 

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