Scanning Probing of the Tribovoltaic Effect at the Sliding Interface of Two Semiconductors
At a Glance
Section titled âAt a Glanceâ| Metadata | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 2020-04-09 |
| Journal | Advanced Materials |
| Authors | Mingli Zheng, Shiquan Lin, Liang Xu, Laipan Zhu, Zhong Lin Wang |
| Institutions | University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Citations | 130 |
Abstract
Section titled âAbstractâAbstract Contact electrification (CE or triboelectrification) is a common phenomenon, which can occur for almost all types of materials. In previous studies, the CE between insulators and metals has been widely discussed, while CE involving semiconductors is only recently. Here, a triboâcurrent is generated by sliding an Nâtype diamond coated tip on a Pâtype or Nâtype Si wafers. The density of surface states of the Si wafer is changed by introducing different densities of doping. It is found that the triboâcurrent between two sliding semiconductors increases with increasing density of surface states of the semiconductor and the sliding load. The results suggest that the triboâcurrent is induced by the tribovoltaic effect, in which the electron-hole pairs at the sliding interface are excited by the energy release during friction, which may be due to the transition of electrons between the surface states during contact, or bond formation across the sliding interface. The electron-hole pairs at the sliding interface are subsequently separated by the builtâin electric field at the PN or NN heterojunctions, which results in a triboâcurrent, in analogy to that which occurs in the photovoltaic effect.