Oxygen adsorption on the (111) face of silver

Abstract

Single crystals of silver were cleaned by electron‐and argon‐ion bombardment under conditions of ultra‐high vacuum. The work function of the (111) surface, measured photoelectrically, was (4.74 ± 0.02) eV. Oxygen adsorption caused an increase in the work function of about 0.4 eV.

A Method for Measuring the Photoelectric Work Function of Contact Materials Versus Temperature

“…The work functions of the crystals were 4.14 ± 0.04, 4.22 ± 0.04, and 4.46 ± 0.02 eV, respectively. The relative change in work function that they measured on single crystals of silver for the crystal directions (111), (100), and (110) follows the expected order ( (111) > (100) > (110) ), in agreement with experimental analyses on single-crystal materials [20], [30], [32], [33] as well as with the Smoluchowski correlation of EWF with surface atom density [31]: the denser the crystallographic face, the higher the EWF. Moreover, the authors emphasized the importance of eliminating contamination by sulfur, which diffuses from the bulk crystal; such contamination increases the work function by several tenths of an electron volt.…”

“…Oxygen adsorption caused an increase in the work function of about 0.4 eV. Dweydari and Mee [32], [33] also obtained the value = 4.26 ± 0.02 eV for a thick polycrystalline silver film deposited on a quartz substrate at room temperature. This value is consistent with a number of values of contact potential differences obtained on polycrystalline silver films evaporated under vacuum, such as those of [29] 4.31 eV and [34] 4.30 eV.…”

“…Dweydari and Mee [32], [33] traced Fowler curves to determine the work function of the crystal faces (110), (100), and (111) of silver at room temperature. The values found are, respectively, 4.52, 4.64, and 4.74 eV with an uncertainty of 0.02 eV on each value.…”

Variation of the potential of zero charge for a silver monolayer deposited onto various noble metal single crystal surfaces

“…Langkau and Baltruschat have measured the PZC of Ag deposited onto Pt(1 1 1) and found −0.48 V versus SCE (saturated calomel electrode) and −0.72 V for one Ag monolayer and bulk silver in 0.005 M NaClO 4 solution, respectively [13]. These values can be related with the corresponding work function values of 5 eV for a Ag monolayer on Pt(1 1 1) [13] and 4.74 eV for pure Ag(1 1 1) [14].…”

PEEM study of work function changes in Cu, Au and Pd metal surfaces with surface acoustic wave propagation

“…Generally, the work function of a close-packed smooth metal surface is larger than that of a surface that is rougher on an atomic scale (a less close-packed surface). For example, the work function of Cu metal is 4.94, 4.59 and 4.48 eV, [24] and that of Ag is 4.74, 4.64, and 4.52 eV [25] for the (1 1 1), (1 0 0) and (1 1 0) planes, respectively. The opposite changes in the work function with SAW-on between the high-and lowindex metal surfaces are due to atomic-scale structural differences between the surfaces.…”