Abstract

ALEXANDRE DE OLIVEIRA, Jose Carlos et al. The Effect of Heterogeneity on the Adsorption Isotherms in Activated Carbon. rev.ing. [online]. 2010, n.31, pp. 54-60. ISSN 0121-4993.

Activated carbons (AC) are microporous materials that have high adsorptive capacity. The heterogeneity of any adsorbent, in particular of the AC, can be separated into two large families: energetic and structural. Structural heterogeneity is caused by the presence of pores of different sizes, shapes and how they are interconnected, while the energy heterogeneity is caused by surface irregularities, as well as by the presence of functional groups and / or impurities. In this paper we discuss different models of surface heterogeneity in materials with slit pores and its effect on adsorption isotherms and the pore size distributions (PSD).

Keywords : Activated carbons; adsorption isotherms; heterogeneity; pore size distributions.