Diameter dependent thermodynamics of adsorption on nanowires: A theoretical and experimental study

Abstract Because the influencing mechanism and regularity of diameter on the adsorption thermodynamics of nanowires are still unclear, the relations of adsorption thermodynamic properties of different diameters of nanowires is derived. Experimentally, we prepared CeO2 nanowires with different diameters, and then the adsorption selectivity of CeO2 nanowires to different dyes was researched. The adsorption thermodynamic properties of dyes with the best adsorption selectivity were determined, and the influences of the diameter on the adsorption thermodynamic properties were discussed. The experimental results show that the adsorption capacity for congo red is the strongest and that for methylene blue is the weakest. In addition, with the decreases of diameter of CeO2 nanowires, the adsorption capacity and the adsorption Equilibrium constant increase, while Δ ads G m o , Δ ads H m o and Δ ads S m o decrease, and this thermodynamic properties are linearly related to the reciprocal of diameter, respectively. The experimental results agree with the thermodynamic theory of nanowire adsorption.