Sorbent
sorbent
[′sȯr·bənt](materials)
A material, compound, or system that can provide a sorption function, such as adsorption, absorption, or desorption.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Sorbent
any one of the solids or liquids that selectively sorbs gases, vapors, or dissolved substances from a surrounding medium. Depending on the nature of the sorption, distinctions are made between absorbents, which form solid or liquid solutions with the sorbates; adsorbents, which collect the sorbates on surfaces that are usually irregular in order to increase surface area; and chemical absorbents, which form chemical bonds with the sorbates. Ion-exchange sorbents, or ion exchangers, form a separate category; these substances absorb ions of one type from a solution and release an equivalent quantity of ions of another type. The most important solid sorbents include activated charcoal, silica gel, aluminum oxide, zeolites, and ion-exchange resins.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.