Volta potential

Volta potential
Volta potential (also called Volta potential difference, or contact potential difference, or outer potential difference, , delta psi) in electrochemistry, is the electrostatic potential difference between two points ("1" and "2") in the vacuum: point "1" close to the surface of metal M1; point "2" close to the surface of metal M2 (or electrolyte); where M1 and M2 are two metals that are in contact and in thermodynamic equilibrium.[1] The Volta potential is named after Alessandro Volta.

Volta potential between two metals

When two metals are electrically isolated from each other, an arbitrary potential difference may exist between them. However, when two different neutrally charged metals are brought into electrical contact (even indirectly, say, through a long wire), electrons will flow from the metal with a higher Fermi level to the metal with the lower Fermi level until the Fermi levels in the both phases are equal. Once this has occurred, the metals are in thermodynamic equilibrium with each other (the actual number of electrons that passes between the When the two metals depicted here are in thermodynamic equilibrium with each other as shown (equal Fermi levels), the vacuum electrostatic potential is not flat two phases is usually small). Just because due to a difference in work function. the Fermi levels are equal, however, does not mean that the electric potentials are equal. The electric potential outside each material is controlled by its work function, and so dissimilar metals can show an electric potential difference even at equilibrium. The Volta potential is not an intrinsic property of the two bulk metals under consideration, but rather is determined by work function differences between the metals' surfaces. Just like the work function, the Volta potential depends sensitively on surface state, contamination, and so on.

Volta potential

Measurement of Volta potential (Kelvin probe)

The Volta potential can be significant (of order 1 volt) but it cannot be measured directly by an ordinary voltmeter. A voltmeter does not measure vacuum electrostatic potentials, but instead the difference in Fermi level between the two materials, a difference that is exactly zero at equilibrium. The Volta potential however corresponds to a real electric field in the spaces between and around the two metal objects, a field generated by the accumulation of charges at their surfaces. The total charge over each objects' surface depends on the capacitance

Kelvin probe energy diagram at flat vacuum configuration, used for measuring Volta potential between sample and probe.

between the two objects, by the relation

where

is the Volta potential. It follows therefore that the value of the potential can be measured by varying the capacitance between the materials by a known amount (e.g., by moving the objects further from each other), and measuring the displaced charge that flows through the wire that connects them. The Volta potential difference between a metal and an electrolyte can be measured in a similar fashion.[2] The Volta potential of a metal surface can be mapped on very small scales by use of a Kelvin probe force microscope. In this case the capacitance change is not knowninstead, a compensating DC voltage is added to cancel the Volta potential so that no current is induced by the change in capacitance. This compensating voltage is the negative of the Volta potential.

References
[1] IUPAC Gold Book, definition of contact (Volta) potential difference. (http:/ / goldbook. iupac. org/ C01293. html) [2] V.S. Bagotsky, "Fundamentals of Electrochemistry", Willey Interscience, 2006.

Article Sources and Contributors

Article Sources and Contributors

Volta potential Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=560343032 Contributors: ChrisCork, Daniele Pugliesi, GregorB, Mcapdevila, Nanite, Randomtime, Sanya3, Stan J Klimas, 12 anonymous edits

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File:Work function mismatch gold aluminum.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Work_function_mismatch_gold_aluminum.svg License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:Nanite File:Kelvin probe setup at flat vacuum.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Kelvin_probe_setup_at_flat_vacuum.svg License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: User:Nanite

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