Physical-Analytical Model for Cesium/Oxygen Coadsorption on Tungsten 929429

A physical-analytical model has been formulated for computing the emission and vaporization properties of a surface immersed in a multi-species vapor. The evaporation and condensation processes are assumed to be identical to those for an equilibrium adsorbed phase in equilibrium with its vapor, permitting statistical mechanical computation of the sticking coefficient for the practical non-equilibrium condensation condition. Two classes of adsorption sites are defined corresponding to superficial and interstitial coadsorption. The work function is computed by a self-consistent summation over the dipole moments of the various coadsorbed species in their mutual electric field. The model adequately describes observed emission and evaporation from tungsten surfaces immersed in pure cesium vapor and in pure oxygen vapor. Using available and estimated properties for 17 species of cesium, oxygen, tungsten and their compounds, the computed work function for tungsten immersed in Cs/O vapor is compared with limited available experimental data, and the basic phenomenology of Cs/O coadsorption electrodes is discussed.