Revealing the microscopic origin of static electricity

Anyone who has rubbed a balloon and subsequently zapped something has experienced friction-driven electrification, or “triboelectricity,” but scientists cannot confidently explain why and how this common phenomenon actually works. Recently, researchers discovered they could quantitatively analyze the microscopic origin of triboelectricity based on the dissipation of frictional energy at an interface. Shin et al. discuss these recent findings.

The authors examined the origin of triboelectricity from multiple perspectives, including mechanochemistry, strain-driven polarization, and thermoelectricity. They highlighted recent advances that have enabled researchers to develop a generally applicable and exactly solvable triboelectric model based on thermoelectricity, allowing scientists to better understand and control the effect for different applications.

While the team aimed their work at scientists and engineers in condensed matter physics, materials science, and triboelectric communities, the applicability of the topic to real life means the subject matter may appeal to more general audiences interested in science and engineering.

“Many readers may think they know why triboelectricity occurs, but they may be surprised,” author Yong-Hyun Kim said. “They will realize that the subject has been extremely difficult for thousands of years and only lately has been solved by scientists with state-of-the-art approaches from mechanochemistry to thermoelectricity at interface.”

By having readers become interested in the science of triboelectricity, the authors hope to encourage more interest in the many ways it can be employed.

“Readers may become interested in applications in tribology, thermoelectricity, and energy harvesting technology,” Kim said. “They may also be interested in how static electrification could be reduced in real life applications, such as the fabric and car industries.”

Source: “Recent progress in understanding the microscopic origin of triboelectricity from mechanochemistry to thermoelectricity,” by Eui-Cheol Shin, Ji-Ho Mun, Seungil Baek, Jaegwan Jung, and Yong-Hyun Kim, Chemical Physics Reviews (2023). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0147372 .