Adsorption kinetics of binary mixtures on carbon nanotube bundles

We examine kinetic selectivity effects that take place during the adsorption of a binary mixture on one-dimensional chains. After reaching equilibrium at the same chemical potential, the species with the higher binding energy will enjoy the greatest coverage. However, the weaker-binding species has faster adsorption kinetics and is able to reach a coverage higher than its equilibrium value before the stronger species can adsorb significantly. The result of this process is an `overshoot' in the fractional coverage of the weaker species that is reached at a time long before the system equilibrates. We analyze the appearance of this overshoot as a function of the temperature, chemical potentials, and energy parameters of the system.