Adsorption of Organic Compounds by Carbon Nanomaterials in Aqueous Phase: Polanyi Theory and Its Application

Researchers conducted a study to demonstrate the Polanyi theory and its application in the adsorption of organic compounds by carbon nanomaterials in aqueous phase. Polanyi theory was successfully used to describe the competitive sorption of aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs), along with the adsorption of ionizable organic compounds (IOCs), such as phenols and anilines. Polanyi theory-based models were also successfully used to fit the adsorption isotherms. Application of Polanyi theory in describing the adsorption process of adsorbates by adsorbents needed a mathematical equation to relate the experimental qv values with the Ce values of an adsorbate and extract the the isotherm characteristics by employing and analyzing the parameters of the mathematical equation due to the relationships between qv and Ce for different adsorbates and adsorbents being different.