Electronegativity, Work Function, and Heat of Adsorption of Hydrogen on Metals

Abstract

A new list of work functions for polycrystallinc metal surfaces is proposed and correlated with Pauling’s electronegativity. Simple linear relationships exist between the above two quantities, which divide metals into four groups, roughly: sp, transition, alkali and alkali earth metals. The difference between the electronegativity for atoms in molecules and that for solid metal surfaces is discussed. The use of these work functions in the Eley-Stevenson method for calculating the adsorption heat of hydrogen on metals shows that the ionic contribution to the bond energy is essentially correct, and better agreement with experimental data than in previous calculations is generally obtained if metal-metal bond energies arc derived from surface tension measurements rather than from atomization heats.