Determination of the potential of zero charge from capillary liquid rise on metal plates

Summary A new method for the determination of the potential of zero charge is described. This involves the measurement of the capillary liquid rise on a metal plate, as a function of applied potential. The apparatus is essentially the same as that previously described by Neumann for measuring the capillary rise of organic liquids on solid organic polymers. Our measurements of the p.z.c. of inorganic electrolytes on the mercury-plated gold electode (as an ideally polarizable electrode) have shown satisfactory agreement with data obtained by other well established methods.