how to calculate specific surface area of porous materials? any mathematical equation? What is the principle of BET? and how we perform BET of hydrogels?
BET analysis requires measurement of an “Adsorption isotherm”.
Because the BET model uses the relative pressure of the adsorptive, it is necessary that the gas be condensible at the adsorption temperature - in other words, the «gas» is really a vapour.
A typical measurement involves :
putting a known amount of sample into a sample cell or container.
outgassing or other treatment of the sample, to remove impurities, moisture.
increasing the pressure of the gas, while measuring the amount adsorbed on the surface of the sample. For the best precision, this is done at a number of discrete pressures, and with a wait for equilibrium and measurement of the amount adsorbed at each point.
often, the saturation vapour pressure,
is measured at the same time, or it may be calculated from knowledge of the temperature.
BET is most widely performed using adsorption of Nitrogen gas at 77 K, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen, but other species and temperatures are used.
Thommes, Matthias, et al. "Physisorption of gases, with special reference to the evaluation of surface area and pore size distribution (IUPAC Technical Report)." Pure and applied chemistry 87.9-10 (2015): 1051-1069.