Silver and Silver Alloys

Abstract

The silver atom has a single s electron hovering over a completed ten‐electron d shell, similar to that of copper and gold. Despite this similarity, there are signal differences in their properties. For silver, its single electron provides the best conductor of electricity, the highest electrical transmittance, highest thermal conductivity, highest light reflectivity, the second highest infrared reflectivity, etc. These outstanding properties have long been recognized and are essential to the most advanced technologies. However, it is only in the past decade that analytical techniques have become available to resolve the mystery of the catalytic action of silver. Raman spectroscopy revealed that the surface of silver is covered with a blanket of weak covalently bonded atomic oxygen, making silver an ever‐ready catalytic/reducing agent. This unique compound‐like combination of nascent oxygen and silver provides the bacteriologist and the organic chemist with a powerful tool for such processes as sanitation, heterogeneous oxidation, homogeneous oxidation, catalyzed group transfer reactions, etc. The following reports state current knowledge, offering insights as to the further possibilities of silver.

Low-Temperature Predicted Structures of Ag2S (Silver Sulfide)

“…When modeling the Ag 2 S phases, it was taken into account as one of the conditions that the nearest distances between Ag atoms should be greater than the doubled atomic radius of silver, equal to 0.144-0.146 nm [50], i.e., more than 0.288-0.292 nm. In other words, the Ag atoms in the model phases of silver sulfide (Ag 2 S) can be located at a distance of at least 0.288-0.292 nm from each other.…”