Core level shift calorimetry

Abstract

The binding energies of deep lying core electrons of closed inner atomic shells are sensitive to changes in chemical bonding. For metallic systems the shifts of core level binding energies as function of the alloy composition can be related to partial solution energies of the alloy and therefore these shifts can be used to determine the formation energy of a binary alloy. It is shown for the alloy systems AgPd, NiCu, AuCu, PdNi and PdCu that there is good agreement between the thermochemical data measured directly and those extracted from the core level binding energy shifts as measured by photoelectron spectroscopy. In addition partial solution energies of ternary alloys can be obtained from these data. The same ideas can also be used to obtain thermochemical data of metal surfaces and interfaces.