Sorption

Sorption is a physical and chemical process by which one substance becomes attached to another. Specific cases of sorption are treated in the following articles:

Absorption: "the incorporation of a substance in one state into another of a different state"^[1] (e.g., liquids being absorbed by a solid or gases being absorbed by a liquid);
Adsorption: The physical adherence or bonding of ions and molecules onto the surface of another phase (e.g., reagents adsorbed to a solid catalyst surface);
Ion exchange: An exchange of ions between two electrolytes or between an electrolyte solution and a complex.

The reverse of sorption is desorption.

Sorption rate

The adsorption and absorption rate of a diluted solute in gas or liquid solution to a surface or interface can be calculated using Fick's laws of diffusion.

References

^ Crini, Grégorio; Badot, Pierre-Marie, eds. (2010). Sorption processes and pollution : conventional and non-conventional sorbents for pollutant removal from wastewaters. Besançon: Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté. p. 43. ISBN 978-2848673042.