Adsorption Hysteresis in Open Slit-like Micropores

Adsorption hysteresis in the low-pressure range is only rarely described in the literature. To optimise, for example, heat storage technologies, a deeper understanding of the low-pressure hysteresis (LPH) process is necessary. Here, two thermodynamically based approaches are further developed for analysing the LPH within the framework of thermodynamically irreversible processes and fractal geometry. With both methods developed, it is possible to obtain the description of the adsorption and desorption branches with high accuracy. Within the framework of the two thermodynamic models of the hysteresis loop, generalised equations are obtained with the control parameter in the form of the degree of irreversibility. This is done by taking the adsorption of water on alumina as an example. It is shown that the fractal dimension of the adsorption process is larger than the fractal dimension of the desorption branch, meaning that the phase state of the adsorbate is more symmetric during the adsorption step than in the desorption process.

Protein Adsorption Hysteresis and Transient States of Fibrinogen and BMP-2 as Model Mechanisms for Proteome-Binding to Implants

Protein adsorption studies returned to the focus of medical therapeutics, when it was found that up to 2500 non-plasma proteins adsorbed to hip implants during arthroplastic surgery, challenging peri-implant healing models. Questions have re-emerged as to the implications of uncontrolled protein unfolding after adsorption. In past studies on the cooperativity of protein binding we discovered protein adsorption hysteresis, a thermodynamically irreversible process. The present precursory study comprises real-time kinetic (TIRF-Rheometry) and equilibrium (125I-tracer ) studies on the hysteretic binding of fibrinogen and rhBMP-2 to titanium and glass surfaces via transient states. Thermodynamic constants (GOn), as well as kinetically derived (K'A ) and hysteresis derived (K'HA ) association constants in the range of 106 to 1012 M-1lead to a consistent picture.