Surface Area and Porosity Analysis

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The efficiency and reliability of silica gel depend on its surface condition.

We use the Brunauer, Emmett and Teller (BET) analysis to determine the surface area, the pore diameter and the pore volume.
A larger surface area results in more contact or interaction with the analyte, thereby increasing the segregation of different products.

Pore diameter and pore volume permit semi-exclusion chromatography where smaller molecules fit into pores more easily than larger ones. This justifies the use of several types of silica to achieve better discrimination in chromatographic separations.