Title: work function
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - work function
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.08879
Status: current

Definition
Minimum thermodynamic work (energy) needed to remove an electron from a solid to a point in the vacuum nearby the solid surface.\[\mathit{\Phi} = -e{\mathit{\Psi}} - \mu\]where \(e\) is the elementary charge (\(-e\) is charge of electron), \(\mathit{\Psi}\) is the electric potential nearby the surface and \(\mu\) is the energy of Fermi level.

Note
Nearby the solid surface means that the released electron remains so close to the solid that it interacts with the surface. Hence the work function depends on the crystal face and contamination.

Source
- PAC, 2022, 94, 15. 'Glossary of terms relating to electronic, photonic and magnetic properties of polymers (IUPAC Recommendations 2021)' on page 50 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2020-0501)

Other Outputs
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- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08879/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/08879/xml

Citation: Citation: 'work function' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.08879
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Accessed: 2026-04-18T08:32:53+00:00