Related papers: Single particle triboelectrification of Titan sand…
To understand the origin of the dunes on Titan, it is important to investigate the material properties of Titan's organic sand particles on Titan. The organic sand may behave distinctively compared to the quartz/basaltic sand on terrestrial…
It is a long-standing open question whether electrification of wind-blown sand due to tribocharging - the generation of electric charges on the surface of sand grains by particle-particle collisions - could affect rates of sand transport…
Contact electrification and triboelectrification are well-known in the case of dissimilar materials, however the case of charge exchange during friction between nominally identical insulating materials is less documented. We experimentally…
When mobilized, granular materials become charged as grains undergo collisions and frictional interactions. On Earth, this process, known as triboelectrification, has been recognized in volcanic plumes and sandstorms. Yet, frictional…
Extensive equatorial linear dunes exist on Titan, but the origin of the sand, which appears to be organic, is unknown. We used nanoindentation to study the mechanical properties of a few Titan sand candidates, several natural sands on…
Triboelectric charging strongly affects the operation cycle and handling of materials and can be used to harvest mechanical energy through triboelectric nanogenerator set-up. Despite ubiquity of triboelectric effects, a lot of mechanisms…
Friction-driven static electrification is familiar and fundamental in daily life, industry, and technology, but its basics have long been unknown and have continually perplexed scientists from ancient Greece to the modern high-tech era.…
Wind-blown sand, or 'saltation,' creates sand dunes, erodes geological features, and could be a significant source of dust aerosols on Mars. Moreover, the electrification of sand and dust in saltation, dust storms, and dust devils could…
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.…
Wind-blown sand, or "saltation," is an important geological process, and the primary source of atmospheric dust aerosols. Significant discrepancies exist between classical saltation theory and measurements. We show here that these…
Electrification by rubbing different materials is a well known phenomenon with a history that begun more than five centuries BC. However, simple experiments can lead to contradictory or inconsistent results and the history of this phenomena…
In Titan's nitrogen-methane atmosphere, photochemistry leads to the production of complex organic particles, forming Titan's thick haze layers. Laboratory-produced aerosol analogs, or "tholins", are produced in a number of laboratories;…
The EFIELD instrument is part of the geophysics and meteorology sensor package DraGMet on the Dragonfly mission, which will explore the surface of Titan in the mid-2030s. EFIELD consists of two electrodes designed to passively record the AC…
The photochemical haze produced in the upper atmosphere of Titan plays a key role in various atmospheric and surface processes on Titan. The surface energy, one important physical properties of the haze, is crucial for understanding the…
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…
The triboelectric charging of particles depends on the contact area of the particle and the contacting surface. Even though the surface topology determines the real contact area, particle charging models do not account for surface…
Numerous laboratory experiments, starting in the Viking Lander era, have reported that frictional interactions between Martian analog dust grains can catalyze electrostatic processes (i.e. triboelectrification). Such findings have been…
Contact electrification of dielectric grains forms the basis for a myriad of physical phenomena. However, even the basic aspects of collisional charging between grains are still unclear. Here we develop a new experimental method, based on…
Surfaces of planetary bodies can have strong electric fields, subjecting conductive grains to repulsive electrostatic forces. This has been proposed as mechanism to eject grains from the ground. To quantify this process, we study mm-sized…
The Cassini-Huygens mission detected large negative ions in Titan's ionosphere at pressures as low as $10^{-6}$ torr. These ions ultimately polymerize to form Titan's complex organic haze particles, which are observed throughout the…