Contact electrification

Abstract If two materials are brought into contact and then separated they are found to be charged; this is the phenomenon of ‘contact electrification’. The subject falls naturally into three divisions—electrification of metals by metals; of insulators by metals; and of insulators by insulators. The first of these is well understood; charge transfer between metals is such as to bring the two Fermi levels into coincidence. The second division, electrification of insulators by metals, has been much studied recently and takes up the main part of our review; our understanding remains imperfect, chiefly because of lack of knowledge about the relevant electron states in insulators. Electrification of insulators by insulators has not been studied so extensively, but there is evidence that an understanding of the metal/insulator case will lead to an understanding of the insulator/insulator case as well.