Industrial
Applications
Silver Paste

The Influence of Silver Powder Specific Surface Area on the Performance of Photovoltaic Silver Paste

Photovoltaic silver paste is an indispensable core component of solar cells, and its quality directly affects the solar cell performance. Silver paste is typically coated onto the front and back of the cell in a grid formation and adhered by rapid heating (sintering), and the silver grid serves as a highly conductive electron network. Usually, silver powder accounts for 70-90% of the paste by weight, therefore silver material properties will directly affect the overall performance of photovoltaic silver paste. Shape, particle size, dispersion, and specific surface area affect the properties of silver powder.

Industrial
Applications
Electronic Specialty Gases

Adsorption Applications of Electronic Specialty Gases

Electronic specialty gases are essential foundational materials in modern electronics manufacturing. These high-purity gases are critical to the production of semiconductors, display panels, LEDs, and photovoltaics. With the explosive growth of the clean energy sector, the market size for electronic specialty gases is expected to increase 140% by 2032.

The purity requirements for electronic specialty gases are stringent, typically at the 5N (99.999%) level, with some applications demanding 6N (99.9999%) or even higher. Gas purity and quality directly influence device yield and performance, with purification techniques spanning adsorption, distillation, absorption, and membrane separation.

Industrial
Applications
Silicone Nitride

Comparison of Static and Dynamic Flow Measurements for Specific Surface Area of Silicon Nitride Powder

With the advancement of science and technology, the demand for novel materials in various industries has increased significantly. Due to the inherent limitations of metallic materials, structural ceramics are gradually replacing them in certain fields. Silicon nitride (Si3N4) ceramics, known for their excellent mechanical properties (high hardness, strength, and toughness), self-lubrication, high-temperature resistance, chemical stability (resistance to acids, alkalis, and molten metals), as well as transparency and wave-transmitting capabilities, are widely used in mechanical, automotive, aerospace, biomedical, and electronic applications, such as cutting tools, ceramic bearings, turbine rotors, and heat-dissipating substrates. Learn how to analyse Silicone Nitride in the application note to the right – happy reading. 

Industrial
Applications
Nanoporous Materials

Comparing Gas Adsorbates for Pore-Structure Characterisation of Nanoporous Materials

Nanoporous materials such as zeolites, activated carbons, and metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) feature abundant microporosity and play central roles in adsorption, catalysis, and separations.(1,2) Accurately resolving pore size distributions, micropore volumes, and accessible surface areas is therefore essential for materials design and process modeling. Gas physisorption remains the primary technique for this purpose because it probes adsorption–desorption behavior over a wide relative-pressure window spanning low pressures (below 0.1 Pa) through saturation near the adsorbate’s boiling point.(3) Reliable measurements in this regime require high vacuum instrumentation capable of evacuating the manifold and sample cell to very low absolute pressures with stable temperature control.

Industrial
Applications
Amorphous Silica

Influencing Factors in Nitrogen Physisorption for Measuring Specific Surface Area and Pore Volume of Amorphous Silica

Amorphous silica, commonly known as precipitated silica or white carbon black, features a highly interconnected three-dimensional network formed through tetrahedral coordination of silicon atoms. The aggregation of its primary particles into larger agglomerates produces complex capillary channels, which create a highly porous internal architecture with a notably large specific surface area. These characteristics contribute to its exceptional adsorption capacity, reinforcement behavior, thickening properties, and its high chemical and thermal stability. Because of these advantageous traits, amorphous silica is widely used in industries such as rubber manufacturing, plastics, coatings, pharmaceuticals, food processing, catalysis, and personal care formulations.(1-6)

Nitrogen physisorption remains one of the most important analytical methods for determining the specific surface area, pore size distribution, and pore volume of amorphous silica. Among existing analytical approaches, BET surface area and mesoporous/pore structural analyses are often the most sensitive to pretreatment method, degassing temperature, measurement window selection, and sample storage history. This application note discusses how these parameters affect measured results and provides guidance for optimising measurement quality when using the AMI Micro 300 Series physisorption analyser.

Industrial
Applications
Ionic Liquids

Overview of Supported Ionic Liquids: Effect of Specific Surface Area and Pore Structure

Ionic liquids (ILs) are room-temperature molten salts composed entirely of ions—typically an organic cation paired with an inorganic or organic anion. Compared with conventional organic solvents, ILs offer:

✓ Broad liquid-phase windows and thermal/physicochemical stability (often stable below ~300 °C),
✓ Negligible vapor pressure and nonflammability for cleaner operation, even under high vacuum,
✓ Wide solubility ranges that accommodate inorganic/organic compounds and polymers, sometimes with dual roles as medium and catalyst,
✓ Favourable electrochemical behaviour for electrolytes and reaction media, and;
✓ Molecular tunability by varying cation/anion structure.(1,2)

Supported ionic liquids (SILs) are functional ILs immobilized on porous carriers—by physical deposition or chemical anchoring—to form thin IL films within a solid matrix. Confining the IL converts a difficult-to-handle liquid into a solid-like composite that combines the chemical selectivity of the IL with the mass-transfer and mechanical advantages of a porous support. This approach mitigates the high viscosity and separation challenges of neat ILs and simplifies recovery and reuse, which is why SILs have become a focus across adsorption and catalysis. SILs show broad utility in gas and liquid adsorption/separation,(3) function as catalysts or catalyst supports,(4) and provide efficient aqueous-phase removal of heavy-metal ions.(5)

Industrial
Applications
Battery

The Impact of Specific Surface Area and Pore Structure on Potassium-Ion Batteries

Potassium-ion batteries (PIBs) are considered an important complement to existing lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) due to their environmental friendliness, abundant raw material resources, and low cost. PIB anode materials have become the focus of research, and carbon-based anodes have been studied for their high conductivity and chemical stability.

Graphite has been heavily studied for PIBs due to its theoretical storage capacity for K ions and therefore high energy density, shown schematically in Figure 1a. However, there are several limitations. The K+ ion has low mobility in graphite channels and pores due to its large ionic radius.(1) Many scholars have improved the performance of carbon materials in PIBs by surface modification, structural design, and functionalization.(1,2)

While graphite modification has been shown to improve K+ ion intercalation/deintercalation, attempts to increase the interlayer spacing often introduce defects into the material which reduce performance and stability. Alternatively, hard carbon is an amorphous material with randomly oriented sp2 planes. The disordered structure results in inherently larger spacing that facilitates faster intercalation and deintercalation of K+ ions. Because of this, hard carbon anodes have demonstrated excellent cycling stability when paired with an appropriate electrolyte.(3) The optimization of cathodic material properties plays an integral role in PIB chemistry, and therefore surface area and pore size have received attention from scholars.(4)

Industrial
Applications
Carbon Black

Study on the Effect of Selection Point Range on the Specific Surface Area and External Surface Area of Carbon Black Samples

Carbon black is produced through the incomplete combustion or thermal decomposition of hydrocarbon feedstocks and is widely used as a reinforcing agent in rubber. More than 90% of global carbon black output is consumed by the rubber industry. When incorporated into a rubber matrix, carbon black enhances key mechanical properties—including hardness, tensile strength, and abrasion resistance—while also improving compound processability and lowering overall formulation cost. Among commercial reinforcing fillers, carbon black remains the most important, and its specific surface area is a primary factor governing reinforcement performance.(1)
The specific surface area of carbon black is typically divided into internal and external components. The external specific surface area is especially relevant for evaluating reinforcement because effective reinforcement requires intimate contact between carbon black particles and rubber polymer chains. When the pores on the carbon black surface are too small for rubber molecules to enter, the internal surface associated with these ultrafine pores does not contribute to reinforcement and must be excluded. Therefore, the external specific surface area is defined as the portion of the total surface area remaining after subtracting the internal surface area of pores with diameters ≤ 2 nm that are inaccessible to rubber.(2,3)
This application note investigates how different selection-point ranges influence the measured total specific surface area and external specific surface area of carbon black samples.

Industrial
Applications
Activated Carbon

High-Resolution Micropore Characterisation of Activated Carbon Using Nitrogen Adsorption on the Matrix 1000

Activated carbon is widely used in adsorption, catalysis, and purification due to its extensive micropore structure (pores < 2 nm). Accurate characterisation of these pores is critical for optimizing material performance. The Matrix 1000 gas sorption analyser, developed by Advanced Measurement Instruments, enables high-resolution micropore analysis through nitrogen (N₂) adsorption at 77 K. This application note demonstrates the Matrix 1000’s ability to perform simultaneous, high-throughput micropore characterisation across four independent stations, delivering exceptional resolution and repeatability at low relative pressures (down to 10⁻⁸ P/P₀).

Learn more about Micropore Characterisation of Activated Carbon in this application note.

Industrial
Applications
Water Vapor

Water Vapor Adsorption on Al₂O₃ at 293 K Using Static Volumetric Method

This experiment demonstrates the water vapor adsorption performance of the Matrix 1000 system using γ-Al₂O₃ as a reference material under well-controlled conditions. The results illustrate the system’s strong equilibrium control, stable low-pressure dosing, and capability for full isotherm characterization.

Industrial
Applications
Isotherm

Redefining High-Throughput BET Testing: Reliable, Repeatable Analysis at Scale

Alumina (Al₂O₃) is a cornerstone material in numerous industrial applications, ranging from catalyst supports and adsorbents to ceramics and battery components. In each case, surface area and porosity play a critical role in determining performance and reactivity. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method remains the gold standard for evaluating specific surface area, yet traditional BET workflows often suffer from long cycle times, limited throughput, and heavy operator intervention—particularly when only one or two samples can be run at a time.

Learn about High-throughput BET testing in this application note.

Industrial
Applications
Ceramic

Testing Method for True Density of Ceramic Fracturing Proppants

Fracturing proppants, also known as ceramic particles or ceramic sand, are sintered from high-quality bauxite and other raw materials. These proppants are widely used in deep-well and high-pressure oil/gas reservoir fracturing operations. During deep oil and gas well extraction, hydraulic fracturing is applied to low-permeability reservoirs under high closure pressure. This process fractures the hydrocarbon-bearing rock layers, creating channels for oil and gas flow. Proppants are injected with high-pressure fluid into fractures to prevent closure under stress, maintaining high conductivity and enhancing production. Field data demonstrates that ceramic proppants can increase well productivity and extend operational lifespan.

Understand the true density of ceramic particles with this application note.

Industrial
Applications
Direct Air Capture

Study on the Adsorption Performance of a Direct Air Capture CO₂ Adsorbent

Rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations have intensified interest in carbon-capture technologies capable of achieving negative emissions. Among these, DAC removes CO₂ directly from ambient air, where the partial pressure of CO₂ is approximately 40 Pa, far lower than flue gas concentrations (~12 kPa). This low driving force imposes stringent requirements on adsorbent materials and limits the applicability of membrane separation or cryogenic methods. Solid sorbents, in contrast to liquid amine solutions, avoid issues associated with solvent volatility, corrosion, and high regeneration energy, making them well-suited for DAC systems.

Industrial
Applications
Solid Adsorbents

The Effect of Water Vapor on the Adsorption Performance of Solid Adsorbents

In many industrial gas separation processes, the presence of water vapour presents a significant challenge to the performance and efficiency of solid adsorbents. Gas streams generated during processes such as exhaust gas treatment, natural gas processing and coalbed methane (CBM) recovery can contain substantial amounts of moisture, which may compete with target gas molecules for adsorption sites. Because water has a strong affinity for many porous adsorbent materials, its presence can alter adsorption behaviour, reduce available surface area and pore accessibility, and ultimately decrease the selectivity and capacity of the adsorbent. Understanding the interaction between moisture and the porous structure of an adsorbent is therefore essential when developing materials for real-world gas separation applications.

Coalbed methane recovery provides a particularly important example. During CBM extraction, methane can become mixed with significant quantities of air, producing dilute methane streams that are challenging to separate economically using conventional technologies. A considerable proportion of low-concentration methane is still released directly into the atmosphere, representing both a loss of a potentially valuable energy resource and a significant environmental concern. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, meaning that reducing methane emissions from mining and extraction operations can provide substantial environmental benefits.

Effective separation of methane from nitrogen and other components in these dilute gas streams could therefore offer both economic and environmental advantages. Selective adsorption using porous solid materials is a promising approach, with the performance of the separation strongly influenced by factors such as specific surface area, pore size distribution, pore volume, surface chemistry and adsorption affinity. In particular, the presence and accessibility of micropores can play an important role in determining the adsorption capacity and selectivity of materials used for methane/nitrogen separation.

Moisture control is consequently an important consideration when evaluating candidate adsorbents. Water molecules can occupy or block pores that would otherwise be available for methane adsorption and may also modify the surface chemistry of the material. As a result, adsorption measurements performed under dry laboratory conditions may not always fully represent the behaviour of an adsorbent when exposed to humid industrial gas streams.

Characterising the surface area and pore structure of these materials is therefore an important step in understanding and optimising their gas separation performance. Techniques such as nitrogen physisorption and BET surface area analysis can provide valuable information about the porous structure of an adsorbent, helping researchers assess how material properties may influence gas uptake, selectivity and performance under different operating conditions.

Industrial
Applications
CO2 Capture

Application of Breakthrough Curve Analysers in Liquid Absorbents for CO2 Capture

Reducing atmospheric CO2 concentrations remains one of the most pressing challenges in climate science and industrial decarbonization. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has emerged as one of the most effective approaches for mitigating CO2 emissions, with several core technologies under active development: membrane separation, solid adsorption, and liquid absorption.

Liquid absorption is particularly useful due to its high efficiency and capacity for CO2 absorption.
While legacy chemical solvents offer high capacity and fast absorption rates, several (e.g., KOH and ammonia) face challenges related to equipment corrosion, volatility, and safety. Today, amine-based absorbents are the most widely used due to their favorable balance of reactivity, efficiency, and scalability in industrial CO2 capture..

Industrial
Applications
Small Molecule Hydrocarbon

Selective Adsorption of Small Hydrocarbons Using MOFs

This AMI Note presents a study on the selective adsorption behavior of small molecule hydrocarbons—acetylene (C2H2), ethylene (C2H4), propane (C3H8), and propylene (C3H6)—on various metal-organic framework (MOF) materials. Using AMI’s Micro 300 for high-precision static adsorption isotherms, this work highlights the potential of MOFs in non-cryogenic, energy-efficient separation of light hydrocarbons. Although dynamic breakthrough testing was not performed in this study, AMI’s BTsorb 100 system is noted as an ideal platform for future validation under flow conditions.

Industrial
Applications
Catalysts

Chemisorption and AMI

Chemisorption—the formation of chemical bonds between gas-phase molecules and surface atoms—is the foundational step in heterogeneous catalysis. On supported metal catalysts, this process occurs on small metal crystallites, nanoparticles, and single atoms anchored to high surface area oxide materials. These chemisorbed species react with adjacent adsorbed molecules or gas-phase reactants to generate catalytic products.

Industrial
Applications
Metal Catalysts

Pulse Chemisorption: Overview

Previous issues of AMI Notes have discussed different selective chemisorption techniques and how they may be used to determine the specific metal surface area of supported metal catalysts. One additional technique commonly used for the same purpose is pulse chemisorption. This method is one of the simplest, most straightforward ways to measure adsorbate uptake by a metal surface; however, as with most other measurements in catalysis, interpretation of the results can be problematic if the nature of the catalyst system and the experiment itself are not well-understood.

Pulse chemisorption is often used to calculate the particle dispersion and surface area of reduced metal catalysts supported on metal oxides. Both CO and H2 are commonly used adsorbates; CO equilibrates quickly and adsorbs more strongly to most metals, while H2 is effective and non-toxic.

A 2025 study by Kanuri et al. used an AMI 300 Chemisorption Analyzer with H2 adsorbate to calculate the dispersion and metallic surface area of Cu0 in CuO-ZnO-CeO2 catalysts.(1) Combined with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), H2 pulse chemisorption was used to determine which synthesis method yielded the highest Cu dispersion. However, adsorbate gas is not limited to CO and H2. Warmuth et al. also used an AMI 300 with N2O gas to calculate the surface area of Cu0 catalyst supported on ZnO/ZrO2 and ZnO/ZrO2/SiO2.(2) They were able to quantify the decrease in Cu0 surface area as a function of reaction time on stream.

Industrial
Applications
Metal Catalyst

Supported Metal Catalyst Characterization with User-Friendly Chemisorption Techniques

Chemisorption, the formation of a chemical bond between gas-phase molecules and atoms on a solid surface, is a fundamental step in many catalytic reactions involving heterogeneous supported metal catalysts. Unlike physisorption, which is governed primarily by weak intermolecular forces, chemisorption involves stronger interactions that can significantly alter the electronic and chemical properties of both the adsorbate and the catalyst surface.

In supported metal catalysts, the active metal phase is commonly dispersed as small crystallites, nanoparticles or, in some advanced catalyst systems, isolated single atoms. These active species are typically anchored to a high-specific-surface-area support material, such as alumina, silica, carbon or a zeolite. The support provides a large surface area for dispersing the active metal and can also influence the electronic structure, stability and accessibility of the catalytic sites.

Once a gas molecule becomes chemisorbed onto the metal surface, it may undergo dissociation, activation or rearrangement before reacting with neighbouring adsorbed species or with molecules in the gas phase. These surface reactions ultimately lead to the formation of the desired products. The number, distribution and chemical nature of these active sites therefore have a direct influence on catalyst activity, selectivity and stability.

Chemisorption analysis provides an important means of characterising these active sites and understanding catalyst performance. Measurements can be used to determine properties such as the quantity of exposed metal, active metal dispersion, adsorption capacity and the strength or nature of the interaction between the adsorbate and catalyst surface. These parameters can provide valuable insight into how effectively the active metal has been dispersed across the support.

Understanding the chemisorption behaviour of a catalyst is particularly important when developing and optimising catalysts for applications including hydrogenation, dehydrogenation, ammonia synthesis, Fischer–Tropsch processes, emissions control and chemical production. By relating surface properties to catalytic performance, chemisorption measurements can help researchers identify the factors controlling reaction rates and product selectivity, supporting the design of more efficient, selective and durable heterogeneous catalysts.

Industrial
Applications
Coked Catalysts AMI 300

Advanced Temperature-Programmed Oxidation (TPO) of Coked Catalysts Using Integrated Methanation and FID Detection

Understanding Catalyst Coking

Heterogeneous catalysis plays a critical role across many industries, from energy production and chemical synthesis to petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and consumer products. Manufacturers rely on solid and powdered catalysts to accelerate reactions and convert feedstocks, including hydrocarbons, into valuable products.

However, catalysts can lose activity over time. One of the most common causes is coking – the formation and accumulation of elemental carbon on the catalyst surface. As carbon builds up, it can cover active catalytic sites, restrict access to the catalyst surface and block pores within the catalyst structure. These deposits can reduce reaction rates, alter product selectivity and eventually lead to catalyst deactivation.

Understanding how and why coke forms therefore plays an important role in improving catalyst performance and extending catalyst lifetime.

Characterising Carbon Deposits

Researchers use a range of analytical techniques to investigate carbon deposits on catalysts. These include transmission electron microscopy (TEM), laser Raman spectroscopy, electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), solid-state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO).

Each technique provides different information about the structure and properties of deposited carbon. TPO has become particularly popular because it offers a relatively simple and effective way to measure and characterise carbon deposits directly on a catalyst.

How TPO Analyses Coked Catalysts

During temperature-programmed oxidation of coked catalysts, the instrument heats the catalyst through a controlled temperature programme while passing an oxidising gas over the sample. As the temperature increases, the deposited carbon reacts with the oxidising gas and produces carbon-containing oxidation products.

Different types of carbon deposits can oxidise at different temperatures. By monitoring these changes throughout the temperature programme, researchers can gain valuable information about the quantity, nature and relative stability of the coke present on the catalyst.

Methanation and FID Detection

Advanced TPO systems can combine methanation with flame ionisation detection (FID) to achieve highly sensitive carbon measurement. The system converts carbon-containing oxidation products into methane, which the FID can then detect and quantify with high sensitivity.

This approach allows researchers to measure very small quantities of carbon while also examining differences in the oxidation behaviour of deposits.

Improving Catalyst Performance

The information generated through TPO analysis can help researchers understand coke formation, catalyst deactivation and regeneration behaviour. This supports the development of catalysts that remain active for longer, resist carbon formation and can be regenerated more effectively.

By combining controlled temperature-programmed oxidation with sensitive methanation and FID detection, researchers can gain a clearer understanding of carbon deposition and use that information to optimise catalyst design and improve the efficiency and longevity of industrial catalytic processes.