Constrained equilibrium as a tool for characterization of deformable porous media

Abstract

A new method for characterizing the deformable porous materials with non-critical adsorption probes is proposed. The mechanism is based on a driving the adsorbate through a sequence of constrained equilibrium states with the insertion isotherms forming a pseudo-critical point or a van der Waals-type loop. In the framework of a perturbation theory and Monte Carlo simulations we have found a link between the loop parameters and the host morphology. This allows one to characterize porous matrices through analyzing a shift of the pseudo-critical point and a shape of the pseudo-spinodals.