Vignettes adsorption

Materials in a colloidal state are frequently preferred in industrial processing operations because their large surface areas per unit volume enhance chemical reactivity, adsorptive capacity, heat transfer rates, and so on. Therefore, one cannot overlook the importance of the flow behavior and properties of colloids since they exert a significant influence on the performance, efficiency, and economy of the process. Note that some examples of this (e.g., ceramic processing, electrophoretic display devices, and food colloids) were mentioned in the vignettes presented in Chapter 1. In addition, one often uses the flow properties and behavior of the products as measures of the microstructure (or, morphology ) of the products and as a means of quality control (e.g., printing inks, toners, paints, skin creams, blood substitutes,... 

As should be evident from the discussions in Chapters 6 and 7, adsorption phenomena play a major role in colloid and surface chemistry. We also come across other examples in Chapters 11 and 13. Adsorption, especially at solid-gas interfaces, is very important in heterogeneous catalysis, as highlighted in Vignette IX. In this chapter, the focus is the introduction of quantitative measurement and the description of adsorption at solid-gas interfaces. 

VIGNETTE IX HETEROGENEOUS CATALYSIS AND CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION Adsorption—Setting the Stage for Catalysis and Thin-Film Growth... 

One of the most important things to bear in mind in studying van der Waals forces is that this topic has ramifications that extend far beyond our discussion here. Van der Waals interactions, for example, contribute to the nonideality of gases and, closer to home, gas adsorption. We also see how these forces are related to surface tension, thereby connecting this material with the contents of Chapter 6 (see Vignette X below). These connections also imply that certain macroscopic properties and measurements can be used to determine the strength of van der Waals forces between macroscopic objects. We elaborate on these ideas through illustrative examples in this chapter. 

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