Critical appraisal of mesopore characterization by adsorption analysis

An increasing number of contributions aiming at the development of advanced or modified porous materials for improved performance in various applications incorporate unreliable analyses of N-2 adsorption data. As a result, well-defined peaks at 2 and 4 nm in the pore size distribution are attributed to physical mesopores, while being strictly associated with the nature of the adsorbed phase. These erroneous claims often comprise the main conclusion of related publications and should be firmly prevented. A better fundamental insight on the adsorption methods and related physical phenomena is required. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.