Quantifying and understanding the triboelectric series of inorganic non-metallic materials.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32350259.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-15926-1 and PMC identifier 7190865.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Contact-electrification is a universal effect for all existing materials, but it still lacks a quantitative materials database to systematically understand its scientific mechanisms. Using an established measurement method, this study quantifies the triboelectric charge densities of nearly 30 inorganic nonmetallic materials. From the matrix of their triboelectric charge densities and band structures, it is found that the triboelectric output is strongly related to the work functions of the materials. Our study verifies that contact-electrification is an electronic quantum transition effect under ambient conditions. The basic driving force for contact-electrification is that electrons seek to fill the lowest available states once two materials are forced to reach atomically close distance so that electron transitions are possible through strongly overlapping electron wave functions. We hope that the quantified series could serve as a textbook standard and a fundamental database for scientific research, practical manufacturing, and engineering.