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Triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) operates on the principle of utilizing contact electrification and electrostatic induction. However, visualization and standardized quantification of surface charges for triboelectric materials remain challenging. Here, we report a surface charge visualization and standardized quantification method using electrostatic surface potential measured by Kevin probe and the iterative regularization strategy. Moreover, a tuning strategy on surface charge is demonstrated based on the corona discharge with a three-electrode design. The long-term stability and dissipation mechanisms of the injected negative or positive charges demonstrate high dependence on deep carrier traps in triboelectric materials. Typically, we achieved a 70-fold enhancement on the output voltage (~135.7 V) for the identical polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) based TENG (neg-PTFE/PTFE or posi-PTFE/PTFE triboelectric pair) with stable surface charge density (5% decay after 140 days). The charged PTFE was demonstrated as a robot e-skins for non-contact perception of object geometrics. This work provides valuable tools for surface charge visualization and quantification, giving a new strategy for a deeper understanding of contact electrification. A surface charge visualization and standardized quantification method and surface charge tuning is achieved for triboelectric materials, delivering essential tools for contact electrification and high-performance triboelectric nanogenerators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge (PB DBD) is a promising reactor for plasma catalysis, while the charge accumulation on the dielectric surface significantly affects the discharge dynamics and plasma chemistry. In this work, the role of residual surface charges in PB DBD reactor driven by repetitively high-voltage (HV) pulse with different polarities and pulse sequences is investigated, based on a two-dimensional fluid model. For the positive pulse, both charge transfer and energy deposition are elevated with negative HV as the previous pulse (i.e. bipolar mode), while they are suppressed with unipolar pulses. However, for negative polarity, the intense charge accumulation greatly enhances energy deposition regardless of operating modes, which is due to that a sufficient field enhancement caused by residual surface charges can directly lead to the breakdown between the packing beads gap, and thus promotes the discharge. The presence of residual surface charges alters the electric field distribution at the streamer front and plasma channel, regulates the percentage of power density deposited in these regions, and further dictates the energy branching into different processes. The results in this work illustrate the regulation effect of residual charges on the energy coupling of the PB DBD, which is beneficial to specifically improve the plasma-catalysis performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface charges have significant impact on the evolution of surface dielectric barrier discharge (SDBD). In this work, the role of residual surface charges on repetitively nanosecond pulsed SDBD in atmospheric air is investigated using a two-dimensional fluid model, based on the assumption of preserving the distribution of surface charges at the end of the previous high voltage (HV) pulse. In the bipolar mode when the polarity of residual surface charges is opposite to that of the current HV pulse, a lower breakdown voltage and more deposited energy can be observed, showing an obvious enhancement of SDBD. In the unipolar mode, residual surface charges suppress the development of discharges and energy deposition. It is found that more residual surface charges are accumulated during the negative pulsed discharge, which have a more pronounced effect on the subsequent positive pulsed one. This is explained by the fact that the negative surface streamers directly contact the dielectric and charge it, while the positive surface streamers float above the dielectric, forming a ion-rich region near the surface. The results in this work demonstrate the mechanism of how residual surface charges affect discharge dynamics, which can be utilized to regulate energy deposition in SDBDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the propagation of the surface ionization wave (SIW) in the nanosecond pulsed surface dielectric barrier discharge with different dielectric materials and pulse repetition rates is investigated. The current waveforms at different locations along the route of the SIW propagation are obtained, based on a specially designed ground strip array geometry. The temporal evolution and spatial distribution of the electric field during the SIW propagation are measured by using the electric field induced second harmonic generation method. The distribution of the residual surface potential after the discharge is mapped with a Kelvin electrostatic probe, which verifies both the existence of the residual electric field and its opposite direction to that during the SIW propagation. It is found that with the dielectric material on which the surface charges decay faster, there are the well-pronounced primary and secondary SIWs with a higher velocity on the voltage rising edge and both the peak current and the peak electric field are also higher, with a less spatial attenuation along the SIW propagation route. It is demonstrated that the residual surface charges with the same polarity as the high-voltage pulse suppress the development of the SIW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]