Fermi-like description of the adsorption phenomenon

A Fermi-like description for the adsorption of particles at a surface is proposed. It is shown that this theory accounts, in a natural way, for the saturation phenomenon found in real samples. Furthermore, it is shown also that this approach removes some limitations of the classical one, based on a Maxwell-Boltzmann description. As an application, we consider the sready-state distribution of ionic impurities in a sample of an isotropic fluid, whose limiting surfaces are supposed to adsorb positive charged particles. The fundamental equations of the problem are numerically solved, thus permitting the determination of the electrical potential distribution in the sample, and the full thickness dependence of the surface density of adsorbed charges. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.