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Updated: Apr 25, 2026

All-electronic Nanosecond-resolved Scanning Tunneling Microscopy: Facilitating the Investigation of Single Dopant Charge Dynamics
Published on: January 19, 2018
Bipolar tribocharging signal during friction force fluctuations at metal-insulator interfaces
Thiago A L Burgo1, Ali Erdemir
1Tribology Section, Energy Systems Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (USA). tburgo@iqm.unicamp.br.
Abstract:
Friction and triboelectrification of materials show a strong correlation during sliding contacts. Friction force fluctuations are always accompanied by two tribocharging events at metal-insulator [e.g., polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)] interfaces: injection of charged species from the metal into PTFE followed by the flow of charges from PTFE to the metal surface. Adhesion maps that were obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM) show that the region of contact increases the pull-off force from 10 to 150 nN, reflecting on a resilient electrostatic adhesion between PTFE and the metallic surface. The reported results suggest that friction and triboelectrification have a common origin that must be associated with the occurrence of strong electrostatic interactions at the interface.
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