This book has been dedicated to J. H. deBoer on the occasion of his retirement from the Technological University, Delft, The Netherlands. Most of the chapters are contributions from deBoer's pupils. Following three general chapters which consider broadly adsorption in porous materials, there follow a number of chapters specially concerned with the porous nature of particular solids such as alumina, silica, magnesia, zirconia, and carbon.
The chapter on "The texture and the Surface Chemistry of Carbons" was written by Th. van der Plas. It is 44 pp. in length and considers two main areas-the use of the t-method (pioneered by deBoer) to describe the texture in carbons and the effect of oxygen on the surface chemistry of carbon.
The author concludes that the t-method, derived from measurements of the adsorption of nitrogen on selected samples of oxides, can also be applied to carbons with or without an oxidized surface. The use of the t-curve leads to a reasonable description of the pore structure in terms of slit-shaped pores. This description is only possible for pores with a width larger than 7 A. Results obtained using the t-method are compared with those obtained using the BET and Dubinin equations.
The author discusses rather briefly the chemisorption of oxygen on carbon. Analogy is drawn between the way in which oxygen is bound in functional groups on organic molecules and to the edge of carbon crystallites. He concludes that for porous carbons generally 90 per cent of the total oxygen can be accounted for in quinone, phenolic, and carboxylic groups.
The author acknowledges that the chapter only provides a brief review of two aspects of the science of carbon. The value of the chapter is enhanced, however, because of its presence in a book where the subject of porous material is treated. It permits the reader to make direct comparisons of the porous nature of carbon with other commercially important materials. P. L. WALKER, Jr.