A model of O-adsorption at liquid metal surfaces has been constructed, using liquid Cu as an example. The modeling approach used is similar to the regular solution scheme previously used successfully for modeling the adsorption/segregation behavior of metal alloys, in that the internal energy of the system is evaluated by nearest neighbor bond energies. In the model, the adsorption of oxygen in the near-surface region is allowed to occur at both surface and sub-surface sites. The model predicts a variety of possible adsorption characteristics, including the possibility of first order adsorption transitions which involve the formation of a 2-dimensional surface oxide, and different sequences for the occupancy of surface and sub-surface adsorption sites. In particular, by fitting the model to the experimental dependence of Cu surface energy on O-partial pressure, it is possible to conclude that O-adsorption in that case most likely occurs by the occupancy of sub-surface sites.

The spreading of Pb and Bi adsorbed layers from pure bulk sources, and their intermixing, on a Cu substrate, has been studied by scanning Auger microscopy at 473 K. The pure Pb layer spreads faster than the Bi layer. When the pure layers meet, two phenomena are observed. The junction line of the two adsorbed layers drifts due to a replacement of adsorbed Pb by Bi. Superimposed on this drift, the Pb and Bi layers undergo interdiffusion. The interdiffusion coefficient has been analyzed by the Boltzmann–Matano method.

The diffusion of Ag away from partially wetting Ag particles on Ni(1 0 0) substrates, to form so-called precursing films, has been studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The maximum thickness of the precursing film is one Ag monolayer at the edge of the particle. An analysis of the time dependence of the concentration gradient in the film shows that the kinetics of film growth may be described by diffusional processes, with a diffusivity that is significantly coverage dependent. No ordered surface phases, or evidence of surface alloying of the Ag with the Ni substrate have been found. It is also shown that the coverage dependence of diffusivity can be interpreted only qualitatively in terms of simple diffusive processes in the limits of high and low coverage.

Adsorption of Tl has been measured by Auger electron spectroscopy as a function of temperature at the surface of three liquid Ga–Tl alloys of compositions: 2×10−2, 2×10−3, and 5×10−4 at.% Tl. The temperature of the prewetting critical point is estimated to be 200±10 K, whereas the wetting temperature is estimated to lie below 145 K. Thus, it appears that the wetting transition in this system is first order rather than critical. This result is in contrast to previous measurements on the Ga–Pb system, where it was not possible to ascertain the nature of the wetting transition. Taken together, these results indicate that wetting transitions in binary metallic systems with short-range interactions occur at temperatures that are significantly lower in relation to the critical temperatures than is the case in organic liquid systems with long-range interactions.