Novel insights from the ultra-thin film, strain-modulated dynamic triboelectric characterizations

Contact electrification has been a debatable topic in the last few years and newer theories have accounted for the recent developments. In recent times, triboelectricity is proposed to be a newer alternative among the ubiquitous energy resources which makes it indispensable to understand the technique in vivid details. Here in this research work, the dynamic triboelectric nature of materials under strain was observed and studied in detail. On account of this, soft material like nylon and Teflon tends to shift their respective positions on the triboelectric series scale upon the applied strain. The detailed investigation using advanced techniques allowed us to probe and discover new quasi-equilibrium states during the contact and separation cycle of nylon when contacted with aluminum oxide. The new results obsolete the existing static triboelectric series scale for the dynamic characterizations for the nanogenerator applications. Additionally, recent charge transfer models of contact electrifications were investigated in detail to probe the intricate mechanism further. Here, in this research, a novel self-powered nanoscale thickness monitoring system application is demonstrated with a resolution of 5 nm (for ALD grown aluminum oxide films). We believe this work will help the researchers to understand the contact-electrification phenomenon in detail.