Temperature Dependence of the Work Function of Silver, Sodium, and Potassium

Abstract

Measurements have been made of the temperature dependence of the work functions of freshly evaporated films of silver, sodium, and potassium deposited at pressures of the order of ${10}^{-9\mathrm{}}$ mm of mercury. The results for silver (-13.4×${10}^{-5\mathrm{}}$ volt/°K) were obtained by a capacitive contact potential method, those for sodium and potassium (-51×${10}^{-5\mathrm{}}$ and -26×${10}^{-5\mathrm{}}$ volt/°K, respectively) by the diode retarding-field method.