Related papers: Electric Field and Humidity Trigger Contact Electr…
Contact electrification, or contact charging, refers to the process of static charge accumulation after rubbing, or even simple touching, of two materials. Despite its relevance in static electricity, various natural phenomena, and numerous…
Contact electrification, or tribocharging, is pertinent to a broad range of industrial and natural processes involving dielectric materials. However, the basic mechanism by which charge is transferred between insulators is still unclear.…
Insulating particles can become highly electrified during powder handling, volcanic eruptions, and the wind-blown transport of dust, sand, and snow. Measurements in these granular systems have found that smaller particles generally charge…
The microscopic and fundamental origin of slide electrification, where droplets of water move across insulating surfaces accumulating and depositing electrical charges, is still debated. Charge transfer is often attributed to ion transfer…
Electrostatic charging of insulating fine particles can be responsible for numerous phenomena ranging from lightning in volcanic plumes to dust explosions. However, even basic aspects of how fine particles become charged are still unclear.…
The open water surface is known to be charged. Yet, the magnitude of the charge and the physical mechanism of the charging remain unclear, causing heated debates across the scientific community. Here we directly measure the charge Q of…
The cause of electron transfer in contact electrification is one of the most hotly debated physical problems today. In this study, the electron transfer is hypothesized to be partly driven by the surface dipole induced potential during…
We study the charge and spin transport under high electric field (up to several kV/cm) on the surface of topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$, where the electron-surface optical phonon scattering dominates except at very low temperature. Due…
A simplified model has previously described the inductive charging of colliding identical grains in the presence of an external electric field. Here we extend that model by including heterogeneous surface charge distributions, grain…
The origin of the apparent negative charge at hydrophobic-water interfaces has fueled one of the biggest debates in physical chemistry for several decades. The most common interpretation given to explain this observation is that negatively…
Contact charging between insulators is one of the most basic, yet least well understood, of physical processes. For example we have no clear theory for how insulators recruit enough charge carriers to deposit charge but not enough to…
The advancement of fabrication and lithography techniques of semiconductors have made it possible to study bi-layer systems made of two electronic layers separated by distances of several hundred Angstroms. In this situation the electrons…
We consider electron drag in a system of two ferromagnetic layers separated by an insulating interface. The source of it is expected to be magnon-electron interactions. Namely, we assume that the external voltage is applied to the "active"…
Consider an electron drifting in a gas toward a collection electrode. A common misconception is that the electron produces a detectable signal only upon arrival at the electrode. In fact, the situation is quite the opposite. The electron…
Even though contact electrification has been studied for a long time, the mechanism of charge transfer still remains elusive. Most of previous reports only focus on the driving force of charge transfer. However, to better understand the…
Recent experiments measuring the electrical conductivity of DNA molecules highlight the need for a theoretical model of ion transport along a charged surface. Here we present a simple theory based on the idea of unbinding of ion pairs. The…
Aqueous electrolyte solutions under the influence of a temperature gradient can generate thermoelectric fields, which arise from different responses of the positive and negative charges. This is related to the thermo diffusion effect which…
A model of a conducting cylinder with a radial temperature gradient which creates an electric field that increases with time in the surrounding vacuum is examined. The conditions under which this model functions are pointed out. An electric…
With the growing threat of energy crisis and the increasing need to power microelectronic devices, people are seeking potential alternative energies that can replace the conventional sources such as fossil fuels. Due to its simple…
Sandstorms are frequently accompanied by the generation of intense electric fields and lightning. In a very narrow region close to the ground level, sand particles undergo a charge exchange mechanism whereby larger (resp. smaller) sized…