CHARACTERIZATION OF ENERGETIC AND STRUCTURAL HETEROGENEITIES OF ACTIVATED CARBONS

New quantities are proposed for characterizing energetic and structural heterogeneities of activated carbons, namely, the mean adsorption potential and the dispersion associated with the adsorption potential distribution and the mean micropore dimension and the dispersion associated with the micropore distribution. These quantities are evaluated by means of the adsorption parameters that appear in an isotherm equation derived for gas adsorption on strongly nonuniform microporous solids. This equation represents the experimental adsorption isotherm for strongly microporous solids better than the Dubinin-Radushkevich equation, which is used frequently for characterizing activated carbons. For illustrative purposes, the quantities listed above are calculated from the benzene adsorption isotherms for eight activated carbons of different structural heterogeneity.