Abstract
Anticorrosive films formed on copper from benzotriazole (BTA) were studied by a chemical shift of threshold energy of photoelectron emission from copper. The threshold for a polished copper surface was estimated as 4.20eV. After treatment with BTA solutions the threshold was increased by the formation of surface films. The chemical shift of thresholds was dependent on the concentration of BTA solution as well as on the treatment time. The threshold was drastically increased at BTA concentration of 8×10-5mol/l. When copper specimens treated with 1×10-4mol/l of BTA solution for only one minute, the threshold was increased to 4.98eV. When copper specimens were treated with BTA solution after oxidation of the copper specimen at the conditions of 50°C for 5min, a remarkable increase in threshold was observed. It is known that BTA is not effective for steel specimens. No chemical shift of the threshold was observed for iron specimens after BTA treatment with 5×10-4mol/l. It can be concluded that the photoelectron emission is very sensitive for surface film formed from BTA, and that our method is useful for the evaluation of anticorrosive films.
