Volta effect and liquidlike layer at the ice surface

Abstract

The Volta potential difference between Ih ice single crystals and different metals has been measured as a function of the temperature by using the vibrating electrode technique. Reproducible results have been obtained with ice–gold and ice–copper contacts, indicating that in these cases the equilibrium has been attained. At temperatures below −30 °C the dependence is linear, and we think that this is the effect of the impurity content on the ice Fermi level. At higher temperatures a term which is logarithmic in (T_m−T), where T_m is the melting temperature of ice, is added. This additional pd has proved to be localized at the ice surface and ranges from 0 to 150 mV; it can be directly related to the appearance and thickening of the polarized, liquidlike layer predicted by N. H. Fletcher, if we assume that a constant electric field exists in the layer interior. The preferred dipole orientation turns out to be that with the oxygens outwards. We also obtained the approximate value of 4.3 eV for the ice work function.