PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Baytekin, H. T.
AU  - Patashinski, A. Z.
AU  - Branicki, M.
AU  - Baytekin, B.
AU  - Soh, S.
AU  - Grzybowski, B. A.
TI  - The Mosaic of Surface Charge in Contact Electrification
AID  - 10.1126/science.1201512
DP  - 2011 Jul 15
TA  - Science
PG  - 308--312
VI  - 333
IP  - 6040
4099  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/333/6040/308.short
4100  - http://science.sciencemag.org/content/333/6040/308.full
SO  - Science2011 Jul 15; 333
AB  - When dielectric materials are brought into contact and then separated, they develop static electricity. For centuries, it has been assumed that such contact charging derives from the spatially homogeneous material properties (along the material’s surface) and that within a given pair of materials, one charges uniformly positively and the other negatively. We demonstrate that this picture of contact charging is incorrect. Whereas each contact-electrified piece develops a net charge of either positive or negative polarity, each surface supports a random “mosaic” of oppositely charged regions of nanoscopic dimensions. These mosaics of surface charge have the same topological characteristics for different types of electrified dielectrics and accommodate significantly more charge per unit area than previously thought.