Data from: Interfacial tension hysteresis of eutectic gallium-indium

When in a pristine state, gallium and its alloys have the largest
interfacial tensions of any liquid at room temperature. Nonetheless,
applying as little as 0.8 V of electric potential across eutectic gallium
indium (EGaIn) placed within aqueous NaOH (or other electrolyte) solution
will cause the metal to behave as if its interfacial tension is near zero.
The mechanism behind this phenomenon has remained poorly understood
because NaOH dissolves the oxide species, making it difficult to directly
measure the concentration, thickness, or chemical composition of the film
that forms at the interface. In addition, the oxide layers formed are
atomically-thin. Here, we present a suite of techniques which allow us to
simultaneously measure both electrical and interfacial properties as a
function of applied electric potential, allowing for new insights into the
mechanisms which cause the dramatic liquid metal, oxidation, and
interfacial tension decrease in interfacial tension.  A key
discovery from this work is that the interfacial tension displays
hysteresis while lowering the applied potential. We combine these
observations with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to evaluate how
these changes in interfacial tension arise from chemical, electrical, and
mechanical changes on the interface, and close with ideas for how to build
a free energy model to predict these changes from first principles.