High temperature physical adsorption of gases on solids: a comparison of two-dimensional and three-dimensional treatments

Two theories of fluid adsorption are discussed and compared. One starts from the assumption of the existance of a strictly two-dimensional adsorbed phase on the adsorbent surface. The statistical mechanics of this model is solved in the Percus-Yevick approximation for both two dimensional and bulk phases. According to the second, three-dimensional treatment, the thermodynamic functions of adsorption are defined as surface excess functions, relative to the Gibbs dividing surface. Explicit results are given for hard spheres and a Lennard-Jones 6-12 gas in contact with a wall interacting via the Lennard-Jones 3-9 potential. The dependence of excess quantities upon the choice of the Gibbs dividing surface is also discussed.