The Effect of Pore Connectivity on Water Adsorption Isotherms in Non-Activated Graphitic Nanopores

Abstract

The adsorption of water in graphitic carbons is usually simulated via a weighted average of the adsorption isotherms simulated in carbon-slit pore of different widths. By following this procedure, details about pore morphology and pore connectivity may be overlooked. Towards a better match between virtual and real experiments, we present simulated adsorption isotherms for SPC/E model water in porous carbons composed by interconnected carbon-slit pores. The pores are separated from each other by one graphene layer. Imperfections (lack of carbon atoms) in the graphene layers result in interconnections between pores. The grand canonical Monte Carlo algorithm is used here to simulate water adsorption. Our results show that while the qualitative features obtained in the simulation of independent slit-shaped pores are reproduced when interconnected pores are considered, the adsorption isotherms rise more gradually and the adsorption/desorption hysteresis loops are narrower in the latter case.