The effect of surface texture components on the contact electrification of triboelectric materials: A theoretical study

Abstract

Textures of contact surfaces have been investigated widely on an experimental scale to improve the power performance of triboelectric devices. To investigate the implications that textured triboelectric surfaces would impose under conditions of small deformations in particular, a parametric texture model-based computational study was performed to elucidate the points above. the results allowed for an explanation with the help of local equivalent models of flat contact surfaces and effective minimum distance of separation in particular, based on which the underlying characteristics of the observed differences in power performance could be interpreted. Further, the results indicate that the dependence of triboelectric charges on both contact pressure and tangential displacements should be considered to characterize the texture effect correctly.