TY - JOUR A1 - Qi, Naiyu A1 - Somaskandan, Rachana A1 - Graeber, Gustav T1 - High-Precision Surface Tension Measurements of Sodium, Potassium, and Their Alloys via Du Noüy Ring Tensiometry N2 - The development of post-lithium-ion batteries has sparked significant interest in alkali-metal anodes, particularly sodium (Na), potassium (K), and sodium−potassium (Na−K) alloys. Na−K alloys are promising for partially liquid anodes due to their unique low melting points. A critical factor influencing Na−K-based anode performance is wetting behavior, which governs electrical conductivity, mechanical contact, and long-term stability. At the heart of wetting lies surface tension, a fundamental property of solid−liquid− gas interactions. However, the surface tension of alkali metals and their alloys, particularly Na−K systems, remains poorly understood due to experimental and theoretical challenges. This study bridged these gaps by employing Du Noüy ring tensiometry for the first time in alkali-metal systems to measure the surface tension of Na, K, and Na−K alloys across temperatures from ambient to 180 °C. A key innovation in this work is the development of the push-in Du Noüy method, which provided significantly higher precision and reliability compared to the traditional pull-out technique, without requiring a correction factor. The measured surface tension decreased with increasing temperature for the studied Na−K alloys. For instance, for a eutectic Na−K mixture, the surface tension decreases from 121.7 mN m−1 to 112.2 mN m−1 when increasing the temperature from ambient to 180 °C. Additionally, this study presented the first use of Gibbs free energy minimization to model the surface tension of the Na−K system. The robust method significantly enhanced the predictive accuracy compared to the previous simplified model, reducing deviations from 25% to 2%. Our findings reveal that surface tension increases with sodium mole fraction in the bulk phase, yet the surface monolayer remains potassium-rich, indicating non-ideal surface behavior. This study deepens the understanding of alkali-metal wetting behavior, providing valuable insights for designing optimized interfaces in next-generation semi-solid alkali-metal batteries. KW - Sodium−potassium alloy KW - Liquid-metal anodes KW - Alkali metal KW - Batteries KW - Surface tension PY - 2025 UR - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b43-630102 DO - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5c02183 SN - 1944-8252 VL - 17 IS - 17 SP - 25985 EP - 25995 PB - American Chemical Society (ACS) CY - Washington, DC AN - OPUS4-63010 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -