Static charge is an ionic molecular fragment

What is static charge? Despite the long history of research, the identity of static charge and mechanism by which static is generated by contact electrification are still unknown. Investigations are challenging due to the complexity of surfaces. This study involves the molecular-scale analysis of co...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 1986 - 11
Main Authors: Fang, Yan, Ao, Chi Kit, Jiang, Yan, Sun, Yajuan, Chen, Linfeng, Soh, Siowling
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.03.2024
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects:
140/146
140/58
147/136
147/3
639/638
639/638/440
Chemical bonds
Cleavage
Covalence
Covalent bonds
Electrification
Fragments
Humanities and Social Sciences
Insulation
multidisciplinary
Polymers
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Self-assembled monolayers
Self-assembly
ISSN:2041-1723, 2041-1723
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:What is static charge? Despite the long history of research, the identity of static charge and mechanism by which static is generated by contact electrification are still unknown. Investigations are challenging due to the complexity of surfaces. This study involves the molecular-scale analysis of contact electrification using highly well-defined surfaces functionalized with a self-assembled monolayer of alkylsilanes. Analyses show the elementary molecular steps of contact electrification: the exact location of heterolytic cleavage of covalent bonds (i.e., Si-C bond), exact charged species generated (i.e., alkyl carbocation), and transfer of molecular fragments. The strong correlation between charge generation and molecular fragments due to their signature odd-even effects further shows that contact electrification is based on cleavage of covalent bonds and transfer of ionic molecular fragments. Static charge is thus an alkyl carbocation; in general, it is an ionic molecular fragment. This mechanism based on cleavage of covalent bonds is applicable to general types of insulating materials, such as covalently bonded polymers. The odd-even effect of charging caused by the difference of only one atom explains the highly sensitive nature of contact electrification. What is static charge? Analysis of molecularly well-defined surfaces shows that static charge is an ionic molecular fragment. Contact electrification causes the heterolytic cleavage of covalent bonds, generating these fragments.
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ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-46200-3