Atomic-scale surface demixing in a eutectic liquid BiSn alloy

Abstract

Resonant x-ray reflectivity of the surface of the liquid phase of the Bi${}_{43}$Sn${}_{57}$ eutectic alloy reveals atomic-scale demixing extending over three near-surface atomic layers. Due to the absence of underlying atomic lattice which typically defines adsorption in crystalline alloys, studies of adsorption in liquid alloys provide unique insight on interatomic interactions at the surface. The observed composition modulation could be accounted for quantitatively by the Defay-Prigogine and Strohl-King multilayer extensions of the single-layer Gibbs model, revealing a near-surface domination of the attractive Bi-Sn interaction over the entropy.

4 pages (two-column), 3 figures, 1 table; Added a figure, updated references, discussion; accepted at Phys. Rev. Lett

References in corpus (6)

• Surface Structure of Liquid Metals and the Effect of Capillary Waves: X-ray Studies on Liquid Indium
• X-ray study of the liquid potassium surface: structure and capillary wave excitations
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Cited by in corpus (3)

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• Crystalline Surface Phases of the Liquid Au-Si Eutectic Alloy
• Spatial modulation of the composition of a binary liquid near a repulsive wall