TOF-SIMS investigations on weathered silver surfaces

Abstract

Silver-coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) disks were treated under different environmental conditions (including changes in parameters such as relative humidity (%RH) and SO(2)/H(2)S content) in atmospheres of synthetic air and pure N(2) for 24 h in a weathering chamber. The corroded surfaces were subjected to depth profiling by a time of flight (TOF) secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) instrument, equipped with a Bi(+) analysis gun and Cs(+) sputter gun. The evaluation of the in-depth distribution of several elements and species provides evidence for the formation of a corrosion layer containing Ag(2)SO(3), even in the absence of oxidizing agents, such as H(2)O(2) or NO(2). Furthermore it could be elucidated that the thickness of the formed Ag(2)SO(3) layer does not depend on the SO(2) concentration but rather on the humidity and oxygen content of the ambient atmosphere. In weathering experiments in atmospheres composed of synthetic air, humidity, and H(2)S, the presence of different oxygen species (surface and bulk) and silver sulfide could be detected by TOF-SIMS depth profiling experiments. The obtained results for both acidifying gases are in good correlation with the corresponding tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM) investigations and in situ QCM measurements.

Surface studies of environmental reactive species during exhibition or storage of ancient Ag‐based artefacts

“…XPS, SEM‐EDS and XRD results achieved from the investigations of Ag‐based alloys, exposed to showcase and storage‐box atmospheres, confirmed the reactivity of silver and copper towards the formation of sulphides, developed through a variety of mechanisms and favoured by the high contents of RH revealed in the Egyptian Museum. The formation of sulphides and chlorides is a degradation reaction potentially occurring in silver and copper ancient artefacts that could be accelerated by the presence of nitrogen oxide and chlorine . Moreover, silver artefacts may be affected by other degradation phenomena such as brittleness and localised corrosion, enhanced by the chloride ions attack.…”

Combined use of SA‐XPS, XRD and SEM + EDS for the micro‐chemical characterisation of Ag‐based archaeological artefacts

“…On the one hand, because of the low concentration of Cu, the Auger parameter (α′) of copper was not calculated, and the Cu MNN signal is overlapped with Ag 3p signal. On the other hand, the XRD pattern reveals the presence of a small amount of cuprite (Cu 2 O) …”

Synthesis of titanium oxide thin films containing antibacterial silver nanoparticles by a reactive magnetron co-sputtering system for application in biomedical implants

“…The analysis used a dual beam mode with 1.0 keV of Cs and O 2 sputtering beam; more details are provided in [20].…”