Title: contact potential difference
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - contact potential difference
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.C01293
Status: current

Definition
The electric potential difference between one point in the vacuum close to the surface of M1 and another point in the vacuum close to the surface of M2, where M1 and M2 are two uncharged metals brought into contact.

Related Term
- electric potential: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/E01935

Source
- PAC, 1983, 55, 1251. 'Interphases in systems of conducting phases (Provisional)' on page 1257 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac198355081251)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01293/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01293/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/C01293/xml

Citation: Citation: 'contact potential difference' 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.C01293
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Accessed: 2026-05-11T21:38:18+00:00