The pore-load modulus of ordered nanoporous materials with surface effects

Gas and liquid adsorption-induced deformation of ordered porous materials is an important physical phenomenon with a wide range of applications. In general, the deformation can be characterized by the pore-load modulus and, when the pore size reduces to nanoscale, it is affected by surface effects and shows prominent size-dependent features. In this Letter, the influence of surface effects on the elastic properties of ordered nanoporous materials with internal pressure is accounted for in a single pore model. A porosity and surface elastic constants dependent closed form solution for the size dependent pore-load modulus is obtained and verified by finite element simulations and available experimental results. In addition, it is found to depend on the geometrical arrangement of pores. This study provides an efficient tool to analyze the surface effects on the elastic response of ordered nanoporous materials.