J Low Temp Phys (2009) 157: 410–428 DOI 10.1007/s10909-009-9911-1 Tests of Pore-Size Distributions Deduced from Inversion of Simulated and Real Adsorption Data Angela D. Lueking · Hye-Young Kim · Jacek Jagiello · Kevin Bancroft · J. Karl Johnson · Milton W. Cole Received: 5 May 2009 / Accepted: 22 June 2009 / Published online: 9 July 2009 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009 Abstract An adsorption isotherm provides indirect information about the geometry of the host material and its interaction with the adsorbed fluid. This paper presents a critical study of the “inversion” of experimental data to elucidate desired informa- tion about this geometry. Using Ar and H 2 as representative classical and quantum fluids and a carbon slit-pore geometry, we compare the accuracy of isotherms de- rived from non-local density functional theory with isotherms from grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations, using a quantum-corrected potential for H 2 . We determine the pore size distributions (PSDs) for a series of model and experimental materials by inverting the adsorption integral equation, with the goal of probing the ability of the inversion procedure to reproduce faithfully the input pore size distribution and A.D. Lueking ( ) Department of Energy & Mineral Engineering and Materials Research Institute, 120 Hosler, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA e-mail: adl11@psu.edu H.-Y. Kim Department of Chemistry and Physics, SLU 10878, Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA 70402, USA J. Jagiello Micromeritics Instrument Corporation, 4356 Communications Drive, Norcross, GA 30093, USA K. Bancroft Department of Chemistry and Materials Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA J.K. Johnson Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 1249 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA M.W. Cole Department of Physics, Pennsylvania StateUniversity, University Park, PA 16802, USA