F. Casanova et al 2008 EPL 81 26003 doi:10.1209/0295-5075/81/26003
F. Casanova1, C. E. Chiang1, C.-P. Li1, I. V. Roshchin1,2, A. M. Ruminski3, M. J. Sailor3 and I. K. Schuller1
Show affiliationsGas adsorption and liquid desorption of a number of organic vapors in anodized nanoporous alumina, with controlled geometry (cylindrical pore diameters from 10 to 60 nm), are studied using optical interferometry. The narrow-diameter distribution of disconnected pores allows checking the validity of the (long-predicted but not experimentally verified) Kelvin equation without any adjustable parameters, modeling or other assumptions. Evaporation occurs at liquid-vapor equilibrium according to this equation, whereas condensation occurs from metastable states of the vapor phase by nucleation, enhanced by surface defects inside the nanopores. This produces hysteresis, in qualitative agreement with theoretical models and simulations that use Van der Waals interactions between the fluid and the pore surface. The reproducibility of the hysteresis depends on the strength of these interactions, which play an important role in the dynamics of capillary condensation.
05.70.Np Interface and surface thermodynamics
81.07.-b Nanoscale materials and structures: fabrication and characterization
Surfaces, interfaces and thin films
Condensed matter: structural, mechanical & thermal
Issue 2 (January 2008)
Received 18 September 2007, accepted for publication 12 November 2007
Published 7 December 2007
F. Casanova et al 2008 EPL 81 26003
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