Adsorption, capillary bridge formation, and cavitation in SBA-15 corrugated mesopores: a Derjaguin-Broekhoff-de Boer analysis

A Derjaguin-Broekhoff-de Boer analysis of adsorption and desorption in SBA-15 mesoporous silica is presented, using realistic geometrical models that account for the pore corrugation in these materials. The model parameters are derived from independent electron tomography and small-angle scattering characterization. A geometrical characteristic of the pore that is found to be important for adsorption is the corrugation length, l(C), which describes the longitudinal size of the geometrical defects along a given pore. Capillary bridges are possible only for large values of l(C). The results are explained in terms of two spinodal and two equilibrium pressures, characterizing the wide and the narrow sections of the pores. Simplified analytical expressions are obtained, which provide necessary conditions for bridge formation and for cavitation in terms of the radii of the narrow and wide sections of the pores, as well as of l(C). Quite generally, the results show that the deviation of the pore shape from that of ideal cylinders is key to understanding adsorption and desorption in corrugated mesopores, notably in SBA-15.