Surface Chemistry
overcome the attractive force between
Adsorption
- The phenomenon of attracting and
retaining the molecules of a substance
on the surface of a liquid or solid
resulting into a higher concentration f the
molecules on the surface
- Causes: unbalanced forces of attraction
or free valences which are present at the
solid or liquid surface, have the property
to attract and retain the molecules of a
gas or a dissolved substance on to their
surfaces with which they come in contact
Classification
 Depending upon the concentration: in
adsorption, the concentration of one
substance is different at the surface of
the other substance as compared to
adjoining bulk or interior phase
 Positive adsorption: if the concentration
of adsorbate is more on the surface as
compared to its concentration in the bilk
phase, then it is called positive
adsorption.
 Negative adsorption: If the
concentration of the adsorbate is less
than its concentration in the bulk then it is
called negative adsorption
Questions:
1. When T is raised, the viscosity of the
liquid decreases, this is because:
increase in T increases the average
kinetic energy of molecules which
them
2. A solid acts as an adsorbent because
it has: unsaturated valencies
3. Point out the wrong statement:
a. Attraction due to weak vander
waals forces
b. Irreversible nature of adsorption
c. Multimolecular adsorption layers
d. Decrease in adsorption with
increase in T
4. When T is lowered and P is raised, the
adsorption of a gas on a solid:
increases
5. In physical adsorption, the gas
molecules are held on solid surface
by: vander waal forces (In physisorption,
the molecules of the adsorbate stick to
the surface of the adsorbent due to very
weak forces known as VDW forces)
6. Adsorption is multilayer in the case
of: physical adsorption
7. Physical adsorption
a. Involves the weak attractive
interaction between the adsorbent
and adsorbate
b. Involves the chemical interactions
between the adsorbent and the
adsorbate
c. Is irreversible in nature
 d. Increases with increase of T
8. Physical adsorption is essentially
quite appreciable at: lower T
9. Adsorption increases when:
temperature decreases
10. In chemical adsorption, how many
layer/s are adsorbed: ONE
11. Which of the following statements is
not applicable to chemisorption:
a. It is slow
b. It is irreversible
c. It is highly specific
d. It is independent of T
(chemisorption 1st increases and
then decreases with T)
12. Adsorption is always: an exothermic
process
13. Which of the following kinds of
catalysis can be explained by the
adsorption theory?: Heterogeneous
catalysis can be explained by the
adsorption theory
14. Adsorption due to strong chemical
forces is called: chemical adsorption or
chemisorption or Langmuir adsorption
15. Which of the following statements is
true w/ respect to the extent of
physisorption?: decreases with
increase in T (Physisorption is an
exothermic process. Acc. to le-chatelier’s
principle, an exothermic reaction is
favored by a decrease in T. Therefore,
the extent of physisorption decreases on
increasing T.)
16. Which of the following can result in a
transition from physisorption to
chemisorption?: Increase in T
(On increasing T, the adsorbate can split
into atoms and form chemical bonds w/
the adsorbent and hence causes
chemisorption)
17. In physisorption, the adsorption does
not show specificity towards a
particular gas: TRUE (In physisorption,
there is no chemical bond between the
adsorbent and adsorbate. They are held
together by VDW forces since these
forces are universal and almost same for
all gases. The adsorbent does not show
specificity to a particular gas)
18. Which of the following statements is
incorrect with respect to
physisorption?:
a. It is reversible
b. it is spontaneous
c. deltaH < 0
d. deltaS > 0 (physisorption is reversible
 as the molecules if the adsorbate are
held to the adsorbent by weak VDW
forces which can be broken easily.
Physisorption is exothermic. Therefore,
deltaH is negative. Adsorption is a
spontaneous process. In adsorption, the
movement of the adsorbed molecule is
restricted, as a result, the entropy
change is negative.)
19. Which of the following statements is
true with respect to the types of
adsorption?:
a. chemisorption is stronger than
physisorption
b. Physisorption is stronger than
chemisorption
c. Both equal
d. They cannot be compared
(Chemisorption involves the forming of a
chemical bond between the adsorbent
and the adsorbate whereas
physisorption, the molecules are held
together by weak VDW forces)
20. Which of the following statement is
not true with respect to
chemisorption?:
a. depends on the nature of adsorbate
and adsorbent
b. has a large heat of adsorption
c. forms a unimolecular layer
d. occurs at low T
(Chemisorption involves a chemical rxn
between the adsorbent and adsorbate,
resulting in the formation of a chemical
bond between the two. Since a bond is
to be formed, chemisorption is highly
dependent on the reactants (adsorbate
and adsorbent) and has a large heat of
adsorption. Since it involves bond
formation, it cannot be multi-layered.
Chemisorption is favored at high T)
21. A finely divided substance is more
effective as an adsorbent: TRUE
(Adsorption is a surface phenomenon. It
is dependent on the amt. of the
adsorbent exposed to the adsorbate. A
finely divided substance provides a large
surface are and hence provides more
sites where adsorption can take place)
22. What is the process called when the
molecules of a substance are retained
at the surface of a solid or a liquid?:
Adsorption (It is the process which
involves the accumulation of the olecules
of a substance in higher concentration
on the surface of a solid or a liquid)
23. Which of the following is not an
adsorbent?:
a. carbon
b. polymers and resin
c. clay
d. dry sponge: (a sponge will adsorb or
 take in water from another area and put
it inside of itself. A dry sponge can hold
more water than a wet sponge is closer
to saturation and as such cannot hold
more water. Sponges with more tiny
holes can adsorb more water than the
sponges with less tiny holes and thus
leads to adsorption process)
24. What do you mean by the term
“sorption”?: Attachment. (Sorption is a
physical and chemical process by which
one substance becomes attached to
another.)
25. The desorption curve is higher that
the adsorption curve: TRUE
(theoretically, desorption curve is higher
than adsorption curve in low P area if the
material is mesoporous. If the material is
microporous, both curves should be
matched together)
26. Which of the following isotherm is
applicable to physical adsorption?:
Freundlich. (The Freundlich isotherm
was the 1st isotherm model proposed for
sorption processes. It can be applied for
non ideal sorption on heterogeneous
surfaces as well as multilayer sorption. A
variation in the slope between 0 and 1 is
associated with a chemisorption process,
which is more heterogeneous as the
value gets closer to 0. Due to the lack in
fundamental thermodynamic basis, since
there is no approach to Henry’s law at
vanishing concentrations, this represents
a limitation of this isotherm model.)
27. Which of the following statements
regarding the physical adsorption of
gas on surface of solid is not
correct?:
a. on increasing T, adsorption increases
continuously
b. enthalpy changes are negative
c. adsorption is specific
d. it is reversible in nature
(Physisorption is exothermic in nature.
Therefore acc. to Le chateliers principle,
it occurs readily at low T and decreases
w/ increase in T. The bond between
adsorbent i.e. surface and adsorbate like
gases are weak so when T is increasing,
the bonds break easily and the
adsorption of adsorbate stops, so rate
will decrease on increasing T.)
28. Which of the following is not a
characteristic of chemisorption?: It is
a multilayer phenomenon (chemisorption
involves formation of chemical bonds
between adsorbate and adsorbent
molecules. Once the valency is satisfied,
the adsorbent molecules cant form bon
with more adsorbate molecules. Thus
only one layer is formed.)