Sorption isotherms collected from tables in the seminal dissertation, “The
Thermodynamics and Hysteresis of Adsorption” by A. J. Brown, have been digitized and
made publicly available, along with supporting software scripts that facilitates usage
of the data. The isotherms include laboratory measurements of xenon, krypton, and carbon
dioxide adsorption (and, when possible, desorption) isotherms on a single sample of
Vycor glass1, at various temperatures including subcritical conditions for xenon and
krypton. The highlight of this dataset is the collection of “scanning” isotherms for
xenon on Vycor at 131 K. The scanning isotherms examine numerous trajectories through
the adsorption-desorption hysteresis region, such as primary adsorption and desorption
scanning isotherms that terminate at the hysteresis boundary, secondary scanning
isotherms made by selective reversals that return to the boundary, and closed scanning
loops. This dataset was originally used to test the independent domain theory of
adsorption and continues to support successor theories of adsorption/desorption scanning
hysteresis including more recent theories based on percolation models. Through digital
preservation and release of the tables from Brown’s dissertation, these data are now
more easily accessible and can continue to find use in developing models of adsorption
for fundamental and practical applications.
Digitization of Adsorption Isotherms from "The Thermodynamics and
Hysteresis of Adsorption''
