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Particle dispersion is the ratio of the number of surface atoms to the total number of atoms. It is a number without unity, often expressed in%. When the particles become sufficiently small (nanoparticles), this number is no longer negligible.
This concept has considerable importance in heterogeneous catalysis (solid particle catalysis), where only the amount of surface atoms available to catalyze the reaction is counted. Since catalysts are often expensive materials (eg precious metals), optimizing dispersion (via average size and particle size distribution) can have important consequences for the viability of a process or catalyst. / p>
It is common to calculate the relationship between dispersion and particle size by approximating that the particles are spherical.
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