Interface inter-atomic electron-transition induced photon emission in contact-electrification

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel spectroscopy method, CEIIPES, that detects photon emission during contact electrification, revealing atomic electron transfer at interfaces and opening new avenues for understanding solid interactions.

Contribution

It presents the first atomic-level photon emission spectroscopy during contact electrification, linking electron transfer to photon emission at interfaces.

Findings

Photon emission spectra observed during CE.

Electron transfer occurs at the atomic interface during CE.

Potential expansion to other electron excitation phenomena.

Abstract

Contact electrification (CE) (or triboelectrification) is the phenomena where charges are produced through physical contact between two materials. Here we report the atomic featured photon emission spectra during CE between two solid materials. Photon emission provides the evidence that electron transfer takes place at the interface from an atom in one material to another atom in the other material during CE. This process is the contact electrification induced interface photon emission spectroscopy (CEIIPES). It naturally paves a way to a spectroscopy corresponding to the CE at an interface, which might impact our understanding of the interaction between solids, liquids, and gases. The physics presented here could be expanded to Auger electron excitation, x-ray emission, and electron emission in CE for general cases, which remain to be explored. This could lead to a general field that may be termed as contact electrification induced interface spectroscopy (CEIIS).