What is physical adsorption
Physical adsorption is a surface phenomenon that refers to the process in which gas or liquid molecules bind to a solid surface through van der Waals forces (intermolecular forces). Unlike chemical adsorption, physical adsorption does not involve the formation of chemical bonds and is usually reversible. This phenomenon has wide applications in industry, environmental protection, materials science and other fields, such as gas separation, catalyst carriers, adsorbents, etc.
Characteristics of physical adsorption

The following are the main differences between physical adsorption and chemical adsorption:
| Features | physical adsorption | chemical adsorption |
|---|---|---|
| Force type | van der Waals forces | chemical bond |
| heat of adsorption | Lower (close to heat of liquefaction) | Higher (close to reaction heat) |
| Selectivity | No specificity | Highly selective |
| Reversibility | Reversible | Usually irreversible |
| Temperature effect | Low temperature is more significant | High temperature is more significant |
Applications of physical adsorption
Physical adsorption is of great value in many fields. The following are typical application scenarios:
| Application areas | Specific use |
|---|---|
| gas separation | Use adsorbents to selectively adsorb specific gases (such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide) |
| environmental protection | Adsorb harmful gases (such as VOCs) or heavy metal ions |
| catalytic reaction | As a catalyst carrier, providing high specific surface area |
| energy storage materials | Hydrogen storage, methane adsorption, etc. |
The relationship between hot topics in the past 10 days and physical adsorption
Combined with the hot spots on the Internet in the past 10 days, physical adsorption technology has received attention in the following topics:
| hot topics | Related content |
|---|---|
| carbon neutral | Physical adsorption for carbon capture and storage (CCUS) technology |
| New energy development | Research progress of hydrogen adsorption materials |
| air purification | New material that efficiently adsorbs PM2.5 and formaldehyde |
| Materials Science Breakthroughs | Optimization of adsorption properties of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) |
Research progress of physical adsorption
In recent years, research on physical adsorption materials has focused on improving adsorption capacity and selectivity. For example:
Summary
Physical adsorption is a surface phenomenon based on intermolecular forces, which is reversible and widely applicable. With the growth of environmental protection and energy demands, its technology application and research continue to become a hot topic. In the future, the development of high-performance adsorption materials will help solve global challenges.
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