Electropolishing of gold

Abstract

hydrocarbon may not be the best explanation of the two surface energy states of a gold surface. Recent studies of the surface of solids show that a gold surface may exist either with its bulk atomic properties (unreconstructed surface) or with shorter (reconstructed) atom bond lengths at the surface. This could be the reason for the apparent experimental duality which exists, with the unreconstructed surfaces behaving in a hydrophylic manner while the reconstructed surfaces show hydrophobic behaviour.