Single particle triboelectrification of Titan sand analogs

TL;DR

This study investigates triboelectric charging of Titan sand analogs using AFM, revealing that complex organics like tholin do not generate significant electrostatic forces, implying weaker electrostatic effects on Titan's surface compared to Earth.

Contribution

First detailed AFM-based analysis of triboelectric charging in Titan sand analogs, showing organic tholin's weak charge generation and implications for Titan's sediment transport.

Findings

Titan analogs like naphthalene and polystyrene generate strong electrostatic forces.

Tholin does not produce detectable electrostatic forces with contact or tribocharging.

Triboelectrification likely plays a minor role in Titan's sand particle interactions.

Abstract

Sand electrification is important for aeolian sediment transportation on terrestrial bodies with silicate sand as the main sediment composition. However, it has not been thoroughly studied for icy bodies such as Titan with organic sand as the main dune-forming material. We used the colloidal probe atomic force microscopy (AFM) technique to study triboelectric charging processes using Titan and Earth sand analogs. We found that it is easy to generate triboelectric charges between naphthalene (a simple aromatic hydrocarbon), polystyrene (an aromatic hydrocarbon polymer), and borosilicate glass (Earth silicate sand analog). Strong electrostatic forces can be measured after contact and/or tribocharging. In contrast, tholin, a complex organic material, does not generate any detectable electrostatic forces with contact or tribocharging within the detection limit of the instrument. If Titan sand behaves more like tholin, this indicates that the tribocharging capacity of Titan sand is much weaker than Earth silicate sand and much less than previously measured by Mendez-Harper et al., (2017), where only simple organics were used for Titan sand analogs. Thus, triboelectrification may not contribute to increasing interparticle forces between sand particles on Titan as much as on Earth. Interparticle forces generated by other electrostatic processes or other interparticle forces such as van der Waals and capillary cohesion forces could be the dominant interparticle forces that govern Titan sand formation and sediment transportation on the surface. Titan sand is also unlikely to produce large electrical discharge through tribocharging to affect future missions to Titan's surface.