Journal Article

Quantifying the triboelectric series

Zou, Haiyang, Zheng, Haiwu, Guo, Litong, Xu, Cheng, Wang, Peihong, Zhang, Ying, Wang, Aurelia Chi, Dai, Guozhang, He, Xu, Chen, Chaoyu, Wang, Zhong Lin

2019

Overview

Triboelectrification is a well-known phenomenon that commonly occurs in nature and in our lives at any time and any place. Although each and every material exhibits triboelectrification, its quantification has not been standardized. A triboelectric series has been qualitatively ranked with regards to triboelectric polarization. Here, we introduce a universal standard method to quantify the triboelectric series for a wide range of polymers, establishing quantitative triboelectrification as a fundamental materials property. By measuring the tested materials with a liquid metal in an environment under well-defined conditions, the proposed method standardizes the experimental set up for uniformly quantifying the surface triboelectrification of general materials. The normalized triboelectric charge density is derived to reveal the intrinsic character of polymers for gaining or losing electrons. This quantitative triboelectric series may serve as a textbook standard for implementing the application of triboelectrification for energy harvesting and self-powered sensing. Triboelectric charging is a well-known phenomenon, but triboelectric polarization has only been ranked qualitatively. Here the authors develop a quantified triboelectric series for a wide range of polymers by measuring triboelectric charge density with respect to a liquid metal at well-defined conditions.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group,Nature Portfolio
• Subject: 639/4077/4072/4062 / 639/925/927/1007 / Charge density / Energy harvesting / Humanities and Social Sciences / Material properties / MATERIALS SCIENCE / multidisciplinary / Polarization / Polymers / Science / Science & Technology - Other Topics / Science (multidisciplinary) / Tribo charging