Adsorption Characteristics of SF6 and Its Main Over-Thermal Decomposition Components on Ag (111) Surface

Poor contact is one of the main causes of the internal fault of SF6 gas insulated equipment. Taking the most common over-thermal decomposition process of SF6 caused by poor silver-plated copper contacts as an example, this article combines with density functional theory (DFT) and establishes the gas-solid contact interface adsorption model of SF6 and its main decomposition characteristic products (SO2F2, SO2, SOF2, HF, and H2S) with solid silver. Adsorption energy, charge transfer, and density of electronic state were used to analyze the reaction activity of SF6 and its main decomposition products with the Ag surface. It is found that SF6 and SO2 are chemically adsorbed on the Ag surface, and the reaction activity is relatively strong. When chemical adsorption occurs, SF6 bonds with the metal surface by the 2p orbitals of F atoms, and SO2 is bonded to the metal surface by the 2p orbitals of O atoms. There is also a strong reaction trend between HF and Ag (1 1 1), while SO2F2, SOF2, and H2S only physically absorbed with the Ag (1 1 1) surface. This indicates that under the local overheating failure caused by metal contacts, SF 6 will first undergo chemical adsorption in the SF6/Ag (1 1 1) system and then undergo a decomposition reaction near the metal surface rather than in free space. The participation of Ag reduces the difficulty of the decomposition reaction to some extent. The results lay a foundation for finally revealing the interfacial reaction process of SF6-Ag.