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Humidity transforms immobile surface charges into mobile charges during triboelectric charging
1Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA. djl15@case.edu.
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics : PCCP
|June 19, 2019
Summary
Triboelectric charging, seen with balloons and hair, involves polymer bond breaks. In humidity, these breaks create mobile ions (H+ or OH-) as charge carriers, explaining the charging phenomenon.
Area of Science:
- Surface science
- Polymer chemistry
- Computational physics
Background:
- Triboelectric charging is crucial in industry and nature, but charge carriers remain unidentified.
- Previous studies suggest bond breaks cause triboelectric charging in polymers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify the charge carriers responsible for triboelectric charging in polymers.
- To propose an alternative mechanism for triboelectric charging.
Main Methods:
- Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to model bond breaks and fragment reactions.
- The role of water and humidity in charge carrier generation was investigated.
Main Results:
- DFT results indicate charged polymer fragments react with water to form neutral fragments and mobile H+ or OH- ions.
- A single bond break is more probable than paired breaks, leading to charge carrier formation.
- Tethered polymer fragments in humidity generate mobile H+ or OH- charge carriers.
Conclusions:
- The study proposes a new mechanism for triboelectric charging in polymers involving single bond breaks and humidity.
- Mobile H+ or OH- ions are identified as the charge carriers in this process.
- This finding clarifies the fundamental mechanism of triboelectric charging.
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