Determination of the Surface Area of Solids From Solution Adsorption

Pioneers of Adsorption Science 3. Professor A. V. Kiselev

“…The accessible surface areas of silica gels of different pore sizes were determined by polystyrene adsorption. Quite good agreement with BET nitrogen areas were obtained if the pores were wide enough to accommodate the macromolecules (pore diameters > approximately 40 nm); otherwise, the adsorption was diffusion controlled and the isotherm plateau was not attained (Eltekov 1970). There was also strong evidence for the occurrence of conformational changes in the adsorption of polymers from dilute solutions.…”

“…With the aid of their well-characterized adsorbents, considerable progress was made by Kiselev and his co-workers in the 1960s. Much of this work was undertaken by Eltekov and his colleagues in the Institute of Physical Chemistry labs (Eltekov 1970(Eltekov , 1989.…”

“…First, the adsorption from certain binary liquid mixtures was investigated in the context of surface area determination (Eltekov 1970). Component molecules of similar size but of different polarity were chosen to study the dependency of the adsorption of one component on its mole fraction.…”

“…The macromolecules of polystyrene and other polymers were shown to adopt a coiled form in certain organic solutions, but monolayer chains appeared to be opened on the surface of carbon or silica. In addition, ellipsometric measurements revealed that some polymers can form adsorbed multilayers (Eltekov 1989).…”

“…Kiselev's many achievements were wide ranging, but the present short appraisal of his work is mainly concerned with the English papers and reviews he published between 1957 and 1979. A representative selection of these publications is given here along with a few of Kiselev's earlier Russian research papers; other early references can be found in the reviews by Eltekov (1989), Shcherbakova and Yashin (1989) and the monograph by Young and Crowell (1962). I am extremely grateful to Sergej Andrejevich Kiselev for providing much of the background information about his father and the Kiselev family and also to Yuri Eltekov for his long-standing help, hospitality and friendship.…”