The use of more polar solvents in the mobile phase will decrease the retention time of analytes, whereas more hydrophobic solvents tend to induce slower elution (increased retention times). Very polar solvents such as traces of water in the mobile phase tend to adsorb to the solid surface of the stationary phase forming a stationary bound (water) layer which is considered to play an active role in retention. This behavior is somewhat peculiar to normal phase chromatography because it is governed almost exclusively by an adsorptive mechanism ("i.e.", analytes interact with a solid surface rather than with the solvated layer of a ligand attached to the sorbent surface; see also reversed-phase HPLC below). Adsorption chromatography is still widely used for structural isomer separations in both column and thin-layer chromatography formats on activated (dried) silica or alumina supports.