Bidirectional electron transfer in Triboelectrification caused by friction-induced change in surface electronic structure

Triboelectrification (TE) plays fundamental roles in a wide range of industrial and scientific fields but its charge transfer mechanisms still remains elusive. It has been widely believed that the electron transfer in TE between two homogeneous surfaces should be always unidirectional. But we found here that the electron transfer during friction process will change its direction as the position of the contact point on the friction surface changes, indicating that bidirectional electron transfer occurs between the contacting surfaces. The experiments further show that the electron transfer direction at any given contact position on the friction surface keeps unchanged over time during the whole friction process if the relative sliding direction keeps unchanged, and when the sliding direction is reversed, the electron transfer direction at a given contact position will also be reversed if the friction surface is crystalline. To explain the observed non-unidirectional electron transfer, a theoretical model for the electron transfer in TE has been proposed, assuming that the changes in the electron transfer direction can be attributed to the changes in the surface work function caused by the friction-induced tangential deformation on the friction surface. The theory has further been validated by the first principles calculations about the influence of the tangential deformation on the surface electronic structure. The present work may offer a new perspective for understanding the charge transfer mechanism in TE and may provide potential applications in numerous fields involving TE such as triboelectric generator, petrochemical industry, power electronics and textile industry.