title: Adsorption of ions to the surface of dilute electrolyte solutions: the Jones-Ray effect revisited.
abstract: The controversial observation of a minimum in the surface tension of dilute aqueous electrolyte solutions by Jones and Ray in the 1930s is confirmed by new resonance-enhanced second harmonic generation (SHG) experiments demonstrating surface enhancement of simple inorganic anions in the same concentration range. New experiments show that the quadruply charged ferrocyanide, Fe(CN)(6)(4-), anion is not surface active at high concentrations, as expected, but at dilute concentrations, the anion is strongly attracted to the interface with a Gibbs free energy of adsorption of -6.8 kcal/mol. Using this value, the original Jones and Ray data are fit to a simple model of the surface tension with qualitative agreement, although better agreement is found for all 13 Jones and Ray salts with an even stronger surface adsorption.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Poul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Petersen
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Saykally