The surface tension of liquid silver alloys: Part II. Ag−O alloys

The surface tensions of liquid Ag-O alloys have been determined by the sessile drop method. The surface activity of oxygen, as measured by ?(dσ/dX _O)X_O→0_j, where σ is the surface tension of the metal andX _O the mole fraction of oxygen, is quite large and equals 3.80×10⁵ dyne per cm at 980°C and 1.35×10⁵ dyne per cm at 1108°C. The heat of adsorption of oxygen is estimated to be of the order of 30 kcal per mole. Application of the monolayer approximation shows that liquid silver becomes saturated with oxygen when each adsorbed oxygen atom occupies an area of 33±5Ų. Small additions of platinum to silver do not change the characteristics of the adsorption of oxygen appreciably. An analysis of the data is consistent with the conclusion that saturation of the surface of liquid silver with oxygen results from the formation of an ionic two-dimensional compound at the surface. This hypothesis is tested in the case of several other systems and yields satisfactory results. The structure of these compounds is discussed. In the case of the Ag-O system, it appears to correspond to the stoichiometry Ag₃O.