Adsorption, physical

Adsorption is based on the interaction of secondary bonds on the surface of the carrier and enzyme. The first industrial-scale application of immobilized enzyme is the aminoacylase adsorbed to DEAE-Sephadex A25. Adsorption is the oldest, and easiest, economical immobihzation method. According to the different characteristics of adsorption, it can be divided into physical adsorption and ion exchange adsorption. 

The physical adsorption phenomenon (also see 1.2.2.4) was first described by de Saussure in 1814 [Bikerman, 1970], In his experiment, activated carbon particles were put into a flask containing chlorine. The green color of the gas disappeared. With the heating of the flask, the greenish chlorine gas reappeared. This phenomenon, known as adsorption, is the accumulation of gas on a solid surface. 

The outermost layer of the solid molecules on the surface is bound on only one side to the inner layer of molecules by atomic and molecular forces. To compensate for this imbalance of the binding force, an attraction force from the solid surface captures the surrounding gas, vapor, or liquid. This attraction can be either physical or chemical, depending on the temperature and the interacting forces between the solid and the surrounding fluid. 

Physical adsorption, or van der Waals adsorption, results from a relatively weak interaction between the solid and the gas. The forces responsible for adsorption are dispersion forces (characterized by London see 3.3.1) and/or electrostatic forces (Coulombic see 3.3.2) if either the gas or the solid is polar in nature. Physical adsorption is reversible hence all the gas adsorbed by physical adsorption can be desorbed by evacuation at the same temperature. Chemical adsorption is a result of a more energetic interaction between the solid and the gas than that of physical adsorption. Reversal of chemical adsorption using a vacuum requires elevated temperature, and even that may not be sufficient. Physical adsorption, being of more interest in gas-solid flows, is the focus of the following sections. 

The most common way to present adsorption data is an adsorption isotherm. The amount adsorbed is plotted as a function of the partial pressure of the adsorbate, p, at a constant temperature. The first empirical isotherm was proposed by Freundlich in 1906 [Freundlich, 1926], and since then, a number of empirical adsorption isotherms have been reported. The Freundlich isotherm is usually written in the form 

Langmuir (1918) laid down a systematic and theoretically grounded adsorption isotherm, the well-known Langmuir isotherm, which has served as a basis for a number of future isotherms, such as the BET isotherm, described in 1.4.1.3. The basic assumptions of the Langmuir adsorption model include monolayer coverage, localized adsorption (i.e., the specific adsorption sites exist and the interactions are between a specific molecule and the site), and homogeneous materials. In addition, the heat of adsorption is independent of coverage. He proposed that the rate of adsorption is proportional to the dimensionless pressure of the adsorbate, p/po (= p ), where po is the saturated vapor pressure, and the 

This technique utilizes physical interaction between the external molecules and the PDMS molecules on the 

So far, various surfactants have been used for dynamic PDMS coating, including Briji-35 [9], Tween-20 [10], SDS [11], DOC [11], PVP [12] and Triton X-100 [13], etc. Brij-35 has long been used in microfluidic devices to reduce the surface adsorption of proteins. Though when it is incubated to the surface with aqueous solution flow, Brij-35 is physisorbed onto hydrophobic surface by its hydrophobic alkyl long chain, increasing the hydrophilic property with the polyethylene oxide (PEO) end to the free surface [14]. Seos 

In a simple solid, a Langmuir adsorption isotherm (Moore 1950) can be used to obtain the surface area assuming monolayer coverage (where the adsorption of gas molecules is measured at a temperature above its condensation into a liquid 

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The solid-gas interface and the important topics of physical adsorption, chemisorption, and catalysis are addressed in Chapters XVI-XVIII. These subjects marry fundamental molecular studies with problems of great practical importance. Again the emphasis is on the basic aspects of the problems and those areas where modeling complements experiment. 

There is always some degree of adsorption of a gas or vapor at the solid-gas interface for vapors at pressures approaching the saturation pressure, the amount of adsorption can be quite large and may approach or exceed the point of monolayer formation. This type of adsorption, that of vapors near their saturation pressure, is called physical adsorption-, the forces responsible for it are similar in nature to those acting in condensation processes in general and may be somewhat loosely termed van der Waals forces, discussed in Chapter VII. The very large volume of literature associated with this subject is covered in some detail in Chapter XVII. 

The present discussion is restricted to an introductory demonstration of how, in principle, adsorption data may be employed to determine changes in the solid-gas interfacial free energy. A typical adsorption isotherm (of the physical adsorption type) is shown in Fig. X-1. In this figure, the amount adsorbed per gram of powdered quartz is plotted against P/F, where P is the pressure of the adsorbate vapor and P is the vapor pressure of the pure liquid adsorbate. 

In the second picture, an interfacial layer or region persists over several molecular diameters due to a more slowly decaying interaction potential with the solid (note Section X-7C). This situation would then be more like the physical adsorption of vapors (see Chapter XVII), which become multilayer near the saturation vapor pressure (e.g.. Fig. X-15). Adsorption from solution, from this point of view, corresponds to a partition between bulk and interfacial phases here the Polanyi potential concept may be used (see Sections X-7C, XI-1 A, and XVII-7). 

The acid monolayers adsorb via physical forces [30] however, the interactions between the head group and the surface are very strong [29]. While chemisorption controls the SAMs created from alkylthiols or silanes, it is often preceded by a physical adsorption step [42]. This has been shown quantitatively by FTIR for siloxane polymers chemisorbing to alumina illustrated in Fig. XI-2. The fact that irreversible chemisorption is preceded by physical adsorption explains the utility of equilibrium adsorption models for these processes. 

All gases below their critical temperature tend to adsorb as a result of general van der Waals interactions with the solid surface. In this case of physical adsorption, as it is called, interest centers on the size and nature of adsorbent-adsorbate interactions and on those between adsorbate molecules. There is concern about the degree of heterogeneity of the surface and with the extent to which adsorbed molecules possess translational and internal degrees of freedom. 

Vibrational energy states are too well separated to contribute much to the entropy or the energy of small molecules at ordinary temperatures, but for higher temperatures this may not be so, and both internal entropy and energy changes may occur due to changes in vibrational levels on adsoiption. From a somewhat different point of view, it is clear that even in physical adsorption, adsorbate molecules should be polarized on the surface (see Section VI-8), and in chemisorption more drastic perturbations should occur. Thus internal bond energies of adsorbed molecules may be affected. 

The immediate site of the adsorbent-adsorbate interaction is presumably that between adjacent atoms of the respective species. This is certainly true in chemisorption, where actual chemical bond formation is the rule, and is largely true in the case of physical adsorption, with the possible exception of multilayer formation, which can be viewed as a consequence of weak, long-range force helds. Another possible exception would be the case of molecules where some electron delocalization is present, as with aromatic ring systems. 

S. Ross and J. P. Olivier, On Physical Adsorption, Interscience, New York, 1964. 

As stated in the introduction to the previous chapter, adsorption is described phenomenologically in terms of an empirical adsorption function n = f(P, T) where n is the amount adsorbed. As a matter of experimental convenience, one usually determines the adsorption isotherm n = fr(P), in a detailed study, this is done for several temperatures. Figure XVII-1 displays some of the extensive data of Drain and Morrison [1]. It is fairly common in physical adsorption systems for the low-pressure data to suggest that a limiting adsorption is being reached, as in Fig. XVII-la, but for continued further adsorption to occur at pressures approaching the saturation or condensation pressure (which would be close to 1 atm for N2 at 75 K), as in Fig. XVII-Ih. 

As also noted in the preceding chapter, it is customary to divide adsorption into two broad classes, namely, physical adsorption and chemisorption. Physical adsorption equilibrium is very rapid in attainment (except when limited by mass transport rates in the gas phase or within a porous adsorbent) and is reversible, the adsorbate being removable without change by lowering the pressure (there may be hysteresis in the case of a porous solid). It is supposed that this type of adsorption occurs as a result of the same type of relatively nonspecific intermolecular forces that are responsible for the condensation of a vapor to a liquid, and in physical adsorption the heat of adsorption should be in the range of heats of condensation. Physical adsorption is usually important only for gases below their critical temperature, that is, for vapors. 

Chemisorption may be rapid or slow and may occur above or below the critical temperature of the adsorbate. It is distinguishable, qualitatively, from physical adsorption in that chemical specihcity is higher and that the energy of adsorption is large enough to suggest that full chemical bonding has occurred. Gas that is chemisorbed may be difficult to remove, and desorption may be... 

As is made evident in the next section, there is no sharp dividing line between these two types of adsorption, although the extremes are easily distinguishable. It is true that most of the experimental work has tended to cluster at these extremes, but this is more a reflection of practical interests and of human nature than of anything else. At any rate, although this chapter is ostensibly devoted to physical adsorption, much of the material can be applied to chemisorption as well. For the moment, we do assume that the adsorption process is reversible in the sense that equilibrium is reached and that on desorption the adsorbate is recovered unchanged. 

The following several sections deal with various theories or models for adsorption. It turns out that not only is the adsorption isotherm the most convenient form in which to obtain and plot experimental data, but it is also the form in which theoretical treatments are most easily developed. One of the first demands of a theory for adsorption then, is that it give an experimentally correct adsorption isotherm. Later, it is shown that this test is insufficient and that a more sensitive test of the various models requires a consideration of how the energy and entropy of adsorption vary with the amount adsorbed. Nowadays, a further expectation is that the model not violate the molecular picture revealed by surface diffraction, microscopy, and spectroscopy data, see Chapter VIII and Section XVIII-2 Steele [8] discusses this picture with particular reference to physical adsorption. 

This is useful since c can be estimated by means of the BET equation (see Section XVII-5). A number of more or less elaborate variants of the preceding treatment of lateral interaction have been proposed. Thus, Kiselev and co-workers, in their very extensive studies of physical adsorption, have proposed an equation of the form... 

Adsorption isotherms are by no means all of the Langmuir type as to shape, and Brunauer [34] considered that there are five principal forms, as illustrated in Fig. XVII-7. TVpe I is the Langmuir type, roughly characterized by a monotonic approach to a limiting adsorption at presumably corresponds to a complete monolayer. Type II is very common in the case of physical adsorption... 

Because of their prevalence in physical adsorption studies on high-energy, powdered solids, type II isotherms are of considerable practical importance. Bmnauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) [39] showed how to extent Langmuir s approach to multilayer adsorption, and their equation has come to be known as the BET equation. The derivation that follows is the traditional one, based on a detailed balancing of forward and reverse rates. 

Differential heats of adsorption generally decrease steadily with increasing amount adsorbed and, in the case of physical adsorption tend to approach the heat of liquefaction of the adsorbate as P approaches P. Some illustrative data... 

The rate of physical adsorption may be determined by the gas kinetic surface collision frequency as modified by the variation of sticking probability with surface coverage—as in the kinetic derivation of the Langmuir equation (Section XVII-3A)—and should then be very large unless the gas pressure is small. Alternatively, the rate may be governed by boundary layer diffusion, a slower process in general. Such aspects are mentioned in Ref. 146. 

In conclusion, any observation of slowness in attainment of physical adsorption equilibrium should be analyzed with caution and in detail. When this has been done, the phenomenon has either been found to be due to trivial causes or else some unsuspected and interesting other effects were operative. 

M. Jaroniec and R. Maday, Physical Adsorption on Porous Solids, Elsevier, New York, 1988. 

D. M. Young and A. D. Crowell, Physical Adsorption of Gases, Butterworths, London, 1962. 

In considering isotherm models for chemisorption, it is important to remember the types of systems that are involved. As pointed out, conditions are generally such that physical adsorption is not important, nor is multilayer adsorption, in determining the equilibrium state, although the former especially can play a role in the kinetics of chemisorption. 

The second general cause of a variable heat of adsorption is that of adsorbate-adsorbate interaction. In physical adsorption, the effect usually appears as a lateral attraction, ascribable to van der Waals forces acting between adsorbate molecules. A simple treatment led to Eq. XVII-53. 

The thermodynamic treatment that was developed for physical adsorption applies, of course, to chemisorption, and the reader is therefore referred to Sec-... 

It was noted in Section XVII-1 that chemisorption may become slow at low temperatures so that even though it is favored thermodynamically, the only process actually observed may be that of physical adsorption. Such slowness implies an activation energy for chemisorption, and the nature of this effect has been much discussed. 

The matter of surface mobility has come up at several points in the preceding material. The subject has been a source of confusion—see Ref. 112. Actually, two kinds of concepts seem to have been invoked. The first is that invoked in the discussion of physical adsorption, which has to do with whether the adsorbate can move on the surface so freely that its state is essentially that of a two-dimensional nonideal gas. For an adsorbate to be mobile in this sense, surface barriers must be small compared to kT. This type of mobile adsorbed layer seems unlikely to be involved in chemisorption. 

Give four specific experimental tests, measurements, or criteria that would be considered good evidence for characterizing adsorption in a given system as either physical adsorption or chemisorption. 

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