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The hydrophobicity of the talc basal surface is considered in the framework of the concept which relates the properties of layered silicates and their dispersions to the differences between the characteristics of the basal and side surfaces of their particles. The ab initio calculations of the energetics and geometry of the microclusters formed by water molecules adsorbed on the active sites (oxygen ions) located at the perfect basal surface of talc are performed. It is shown that the typical property of the hydrophobic surface is the adsorption of single molecules of water on extremely scarce or weak active sites of the surface, which act as secondary adsorption sites, and subsequent adsorption of water molecules on these secondary sites which results in the formation of ring-like structures. The heat of adsorption on this surface is shown to be essentially lower than the water condensation heat, which is also indicative of the hydrophobicity of the basal surface of talc.

The Frenkel-Halsey-Hill equation is used to describe the adsorption branch of a hysteresis loop upon polylayer adsorption with an H3 loop according to IUPAC nomenclature. The equation for the desorption branch of a hysteresis loop is derived from a combined solution to the equation for the Gibbs potential change, given the adsorbent swelling and pore connectivity function, and the Laplace equation taken for the conditions of infinitely elongated meniscus. This equation is shown to connect the adsorbate relative pressure in a bulk phase for the desorption branch of a hysteresis loop with the key parameters of the adsorption system. The equation obtained was verified by a water adsorption isotherm on natural mineral schungite.

Direct calorimetric measurements were used to determine the heats of exchange of the Mn2+, Co2+, Cu2+, and Ni2+ cations on the Na form of clinoptilolite over the entire range of solid phase fillings with sorbed cations. In parallel, ion exchange isotherms for the systems were measured by the sorption-analytic method. The integral free energies and entropies of ion exchange were calculated. It was shown that the solution phase of the clinoptilolite-electrolyte solution two-phase system contributed significantly to the total thermodynamic characteristics of ion exchange. The differentiation of the dependence of the integral enthalpy on the degree of filling was performed to show that the clinoptilolite structure contained at least two types of exchange sites having different interaction energies with transition metal ions.