Contact electrification and charge decay on polyester fibres: A KPFM study

Surface contact electrification experiments have been performed on insulating polyester fibres in contact with a conductive fibre using biased atomic force microscopy tips. With positive tip bias, charge spots have been deposited in a reproducible manner. The density of deposited charges on the fibre surface was observed by Kelvin probe force microscopy as a function of time, charging position and relative humidity. Two main charge dissipation mechanisms were identified with different importance depending on the relative humidity value.