Water Adsorption Mechanisms in Carbonaceous Materials
Summary
Carbonaceous materials encompass a wide range of porous solids—activated carbons, coal chars and carbon fibres—whose pore networks and surface chemistries govern the uptake of water vapour. At low humidity, individual water molecules are captured by high‐energy sites through physisorption, with hydrogen bonds forming between water and polar surface groups. As humidity rises, additional water layers accumulate, leading to cluster growth and eventual pore‐filling via capillary condensation in mesopores. In ultramicropores (<2 nm), nanoconfinement alters molecular orientation and enhances adsorption energetics, while surface functionalisation and heteroatom doping tune hydrophilicity and stability. A detailed understanding of these mechanisms underpins advances in gas separation, moisture control, energy storage and environmental remediation.
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Water Adsorption Mechanisms in Carbonaceous Materials publication trend
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Technical terms
Physisorption: Reversible adsorption driven by weak van der Waals forces without chemical bond formation.
Chemisorption: Adsorption involving the formation of chemical bonds between adsorbate and surface functional groups.
Adsorption isotherm: Plot of the equilibrium amount of adsorbate versus pressure or relative humidity at constant temperature.
Pore classification: Micropores (<2 nm) and mesopores (2–50 nm) are distinguished by size, governing different adsorption regimes.
Hydrogen bond: Directional interaction between water molecules and polar surface groups, critical for initial adsorption and clustering.
Nanoconfinement: Confinement within nanometre‐scale pores that modifies molecular mobility and adsorption energetics.
References
- Characteristics of water occurrence in coalbed methane reservoir. Unconventional Resources (2023).
- 2H-NMR study of molecular reorientation of D2O confined into the slit-shaped micropores of activated carbon fiber. Adsorption (2024).
- Influence of Fluorine Doping of Activated Carbon Fibers on Their Water Vapor Adsorption Characteristics. Frontiers in Chemistry (2021).
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