Does Flexoelectricity Drive Triboelectricity?
Materials Science
2019-09-18 v2 Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Abstract
The triboelectric effect, charge transfer during sliding, is well established but the thermodynamic driver is not well understood. We hypothesize here that flexoelectric potential differences induced by inhomogeneous strains at nanoscale asperities drive tribocharge separation. Modelling single asperity elastic contacts suggests that nanoscale flexoelectric potential differences of 1-10 V or larger arise during indentation and pull-off. This hypothesis agrees with several experimental observations, including bipolar charging during stick-slip, inhomogeneous tribocharge patterns, charging between similar materials, and surface charge density measurements.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1904.10383,
title = {Does Flexoelectricity Drive Triboelectricity?},
author = {Christopher A. Mizzi and Alex Y. W. Lin and Laurence D. Marks},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1904.10383},
year = {2019}
}