Adsorption of argon on sintered tin dioxide analyzed by several methods

Argon adsorption measurements are presented over a wide range of temperature and coverage on a series of three progressively sintered SnO2 surfaces. These data are analyzed by mercury porosimetry, the BET method, the CAEDMON distribution analysis, and the Singleton-Halsey equation. Isosteric heats are computed, and the high-temperature virial expansion of the data presented. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are discussed with particular attention to the ability of physical adsorption to discriminate among surfaces beyond the measurement of surface area.