From Casimir to Triboelectric Effect
Pages 1-7
Mihai Lungu, Lucian Dascalescu
Abstract. The present work proposes to establish a connection between Casimir and triboelectric effects, as a response whether Casimir effect can be one of the causes of the appearance of triboelectric charges. The Casimir effect consists in a force arising in the microscopic world between two uncharged bodies as a result of radiation pressure of vacuum fluctuations, due to modification of the zero-point energy associated with the electromagnetic modes in the space between them. On a submicrometre scale, this force becomes so strong that it becomes the dominant force. The triboelectric effect consists in the appearance of electric charges with opposite signs at the contact of two surfaces belonging to dissimilar materials. Contact electrification can occur at solid-solid, liquid-liquid or solid-liquid interfaces. The study addresses the triboelectric charging as an interfacial phenomenon of interacting insulating surfaces, taking into account that water absorption influences the charging mechanism and the role of Casimir forces as dominant at sub-micron distances.