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Electron transfer has been proven the dominant charge carrier during contact electrification at the liquid–solid interface. However, the effect of electron spin in contact electrification remains to be investigated. This study examines the charge transfer between different liquids and ferrimagnetic solids in a magnetic field, focusing on the contribution of O2 molecules to the liquid–solid contact electrification. The findings reveal that magnetic fields promote electron transfer at the O2-containing liquid–solid interfaces. Moreover, magnetic field-induced electron transfer increases at higher O2 concentrations in the liquids and decreases at elevated temperatures. The results indicate spin-selected electron transfer at liquid–solid interface. External magnetic fields can modulate the spin conversion of the radical pairs at the O2-containing liquid and ferrimagnetic solid interfaces due to the Zeeman interaction, promoting electron transfer. A spin-selected electron transfer model for liquid–solid contact electrification is further proposed based on the radical pair mechanism, in which the HO2 molecules and the free unpaired electrons from the ferrimagnetic solids are considered radical pairs. The spin conversion of the [HO2• •e−] pairs is affected by magnetic fields, rendering the electron transfer magnetic field-sensitive. Electron transfer has been shown to contribute to contact electrification at liquid–solid interface. Here, authors investigate the magnetic field effect on the liquid–solid electron transfer and propose a spin conversion model for the liquid–solid contact electrification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Kelvin probe force microscopy, we studied the contact-electrification (CE) induced charge density on the surfaces of organic–inorganic composite oxide films, such as Nb2O5, ZrO2, and HfO2 films, prepared by a sol–gel method and annealed at different temperatures. The results show that positive triboelectric charges on the film surface gradually turn into negative ones with the increase in the annealing temperature. This phenomenon is attributed to the broken valence bonds between organics and organic–inorganic composites in the film at high temperature, which causes oxygen vacancy defects and consequently changes the surface states of the film. A surface states model is established to understand the process of CE, which further confirms that electron transfer is the dominant mechanism of CE. Moreover, it indicates that in addition to oxygen vacancies, there are also many other factors that can influence CE, including but not limited to non-stoichiometric ratios, impurities, and other types of defects. These factors will modify the surface states through changing the potential barrier energy of the bound electrons on the surface and thus impact the amount and even the direction of electron transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact electrification (CE) is one of the oldest topics in physics, which has been discussed for more than 2600 years. Recently, an overlapped electron‐cloud (OEC) model was proposed by Wang to explain all types of CE phenomena for general materials in which a deep overlapping of electron clouds belonging to two atoms results in a lowered potential barrier for electron transfer from one to the other by applying a compressive force, which is simply referred to as Wang transition for CE. Here, the degree of electron‐cloud overlap between two atoms is controlled by using tapping mode atomic force microscopy. A temperature difference and electric field are applied between atoms of two surfaces. It is found that electron transfer only occurs when the contact tip and sample interact in the repulsive‐force region, which corresponds to a strong overlap of the electron clouds. Such a fact even preserves if the tip is at a higher temperature than the sample for 120 K. Alternatively, by applying a bias, electron tunneling would occur when the tip is in the attractive‐force region within which normal electron transfer would not occur. These studies solidify the overlapped electron‐cloud model first proposed by Wang. Further, the temperature and bias effects on the CE are explained based on a modified OEC model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contact electrification (CE) has been known for more than 2600 years but the nature of charge carriers and their transfer mechanisms still remain poorly understood, especially for the cases of liquid–solid CE. Here, we study the CE between liquids and solids and investigate the decay of CE charges on the solid surfaces after liquid–solid CE at different thermal conditions. The contribution of electron transfer is distinguished from that of ion transfer on the charged surfaces by using the theory of electron thermionic emission. Our study shows that there are both electron transfer and ion transfer in the liquid–solid CE. We reveal that solutes in the solution, pH value of the solution and the hydrophilicity of the solid affect the ratio of electron transfers to ion transfers. Further, we propose a two-step model of electron or/and ion transfer and demonstrate the formation of electric double-layer in liquid–solid CE. The identity of charge carriers (electron or ion) in contact electrification has been discussed for many years. Here, the authors demonstrate that the electron transfer paly an important role in liquid-solid contact electrification and the formation mechanism of electric double-layer is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]