Region ruled surface

Figure Bl.22.3. RAIRS data in the C-H stretching region from two different self-assembled monolayers, namely, from a monolayer of dioctadecyldisulfide (ODS) on gold (bottom), and from a monolayer of octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) on silicon (top). Although the RAIRS surface selection rules for non-metallic substrates are more complex than those which apply to metals, they can still be used to detemiine adsorption geometries. The spectra shown here were, in fact, analysed to yield the tilt (a) and twist (p) angles of the molecular chains in each case with respect to the surface plane (the resulting values are also given in the figure) [40].

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. 

The intercept on the adsorption axis, and also the value of c, diminishes as the amount of retained nonane increases (Table 4.7). The very high value of c (>10 ) for the starting material could in principle be explained by adsorption either in micropores or on active sites such as exposed Ti cations produced by dehydration but, as shown in earlier work, the latter kind of adsorption would result in isotherms of quite different shape, and can be ruled out. The negative intercept obtained with the 25°C-outgassed sample (Fig. 4.14 curve (D)) is a mathematical consequence of the reduced adsorption at low relative pressure which in expressed in the low c-value (c = 13). It is most probably accounted for by the presence of adsorbed nonane on the external surface which was not removed at 25°C but only at I50°C. (The Frenkel-Halsey-Hill exponent (p. 90) for the multilayer region of the 25°C-outgassed sample was only 1 -9 as compared with 2-61 for the standard rutile, and 2-38 for the 150°C-outgassed sample). 

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