Study of Water Adsorbed on Gold: Assessment of Polarization Model

Adsorption of water affects the corrosion rates in the atmospheric corrosion of metals. Knowledge of water adsorption and metal oxyhydroxide formation is important in understanding the atmospheric corrosion process. Since gold does not form surface oxides and therefore retains its surface characteristics throughout adsorption experiments, it provides a model system. The purposes of the present research were (1) to measure the adsorption of water on gold as a function of relative humidity (RH) and temperature and (2) to assess Bradley’s polarization model for water adsorption. In the present research, the quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) technique was used to measure the mass change of the gold at 0 to 100% RH and 7–90°C under nitrogen environments. Functional relationship was first proposed as a way to include dipole/induced dipole interactions between the adsorbents and water layers.