---
OA_place: publisher
_id: '20203'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: Tribocharging, or contact electrification, is the phenomenon in which two
    initially neutral materials exchange electric charge through contact and subsequent
    separation. While it is widely observed in everyday life and crucial to numerous
    natural processes, even the most basic aspects of tribocharging are still a mystery—what
    are the charge carriers involved and what drives their exchange? This work spans
    three separate projects that address different aspects of tribocharging. First,
    we introduce a novel strategy combining Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations
    with Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy (KPFM) to quantitatively extract surface charge
    density from surface voltage maps. Second, we present a simple theoretical model
    that allows for the existence of triboelectric cycles, under the assumption that
    multiple charge carrying species are involved. Third, we present experimental
    evidence that identical materials can spontaneously evolve into a triboelectric
    series, driven by contact history. Modeling this behavior enables the replication
    of experimental results with simulations, and even experimentally forcing the
    appearance of a pre-designed series by manipulating contact history. Together,
    the findings from these projects challenge traditional views on tribocharging,
    provide new tools for probing it, and open up new avenues of research—all with
    the hopes of bringing us closer to understanding this puzzling phenomenon.
acknowledged_ssus:
- _id: M-Shop
- _id: NanoFab
- _id: EM-Fac
- _id: LifeSc
- _id: ScienComp
acknowledgement: "The project in Chapter 2 has received funding from the European
  Research Council (ERC) under\r\nthe European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
  programme (Grant Agreement\r\nNo. 949120).\r\nThe project in Chapter 3 has received
  funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under\r\nthe European Union’s Horizon
  2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement\r\nNo. 949120).\r\nThe project
  in Chapter 4 has received financing from the European Research Council grant\r\nagreement
  No. 949120 under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation\r\nprogramme.
  The Analytical Instrumentation Center of the TU Wien acknowledges support by\r\nthe
  FFG project ‘ELSA’ under grant no. 884672. C.M.P. and M.O. acknowledge the state\r\nof
  Lower Austria and the European Regional Development Fund under grant no. WST3-F542638/004-2021.\r\n"
alternative_title:
- ISTA Thesis
article_processing_charge: No
author:
- first_name: Juan Carlos A
  full_name: Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A
  id: 4B807D68-AE37-11E9-AC72-31CAE5697425
  last_name: Sobarzo Ponce
citation:
  ama: 'Sobarzo Ponce JCA. Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series,
    triboelectric cycles and surface charges. 2025. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203</a>'
  apa: 'Sobarzo Ponce, J. C. A. (2025). <i>Tribocharging of identical insulators :
    Triboelectric series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges</i>. Institute
    of Science and Technology Austria. <a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203</a>'
  chicago: 'Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A. “Tribocharging of Identical Insulators :
    Triboelectric Series, Triboelectric Cycles and Surface Charges.” Institute of
    Science and Technology Austria, 2025. <a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203</a>.'
  ieee: 'J. C. A. Sobarzo Ponce, “Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric
    series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges,” Institute of Science and Technology
    Austria, 2025.'
  ista: 'Sobarzo Ponce JCA. 2025. Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric
    series, triboelectric cycles and surface charges. Institute of Science and Technology
    Austria.'
  mla: 'Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A. <i>Tribocharging of Identical Insulators : Triboelectric
    Series, Triboelectric Cycles and Surface Charges</i>. Institute of Science and
    Technology Austria, 2025, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203">10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203</a>.'
  short: 'J.C.A. Sobarzo Ponce, Tribocharging of Identical Insulators : Triboelectric
    Series, Triboelectric Cycles and Surface Charges, Institute of Science and Technology
    Austria, 2025.'
corr_author: '1'
date_created: 2025-08-21T11:42:59Z
date_published: 2025-08-27T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-28T13:44:56Z
day: '27'
ddc:
- '530'
degree_awarded: PhD
department:
- _id: GradSch
- _id: ScWa
doi: 10.15479/AT-ISTA-20203
ec_funded: 1
file:
- access_level: open_access
  checksum: 661b9d3786cfc985be811befc3262bf5
  content_type: application/pdf
  creator: jsobarzo
  date_created: 2025-08-27T14:50:32Z
  date_updated: 2025-08-27T14:50:32Z
  file_id: '20237'
  file_name: 2025_Sobarzo_JuanCarlos_Thesis.pdf
  file_size: 12667200
  relation: main_file
  success: 1
- access_level: closed
  checksum: ca2f24e6c3b55912982521707552a0f5
  content_type: application/x-zip-compressed
  creator: jsobarzo
  date_created: 2025-08-27T14:50:32Z
  date_updated: 2025-08-28T08:19:07Z
  file_id: '20238'
  file_name: 2025_Sobarzo_JuanCarlos_Thesis.zip
  file_size: 18940521
  relation: source_file
file_date_updated: 2025-08-28T08:19:07Z
has_accepted_license: '1'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '08'
oa: 1
oa_version: Published Version
page: '96'
project:
- _id: 0aa60e99-070f-11eb-9043-a6de6bdc3afa
  call_identifier: H2020
  grant_number: '949120'
  name: 'Tribocharge: a multi-scale approach to an enduring problem in physics'
publication_identifier:
  isbn:
  - 978-3-99078-062-6
  issn:
  - 2663-337X
publication_status: published
publisher: Institute of Science and Technology Austria
related_material:
  record:
  - id: '12109'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '15322'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
  - id: '19278'
    relation: part_of_dissertation
    status: public
status: public
supervisor:
- first_name: Scott R
  full_name: Waitukaitis, Scott R
  id: 3A1FFC16-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Waitukaitis
  orcid: 0000-0002-2299-3176
title: 'Tribocharging of identical insulators : Triboelectric series, triboelectric
  cycles and surface charges'
tmp:
  image: /images/cc_by.png
  legal_code_url: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode
  name: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)
  short: CC BY (4.0)
type: dissertation
user_id: ba8df636-2132-11f1-aed0-ed93e2281fdd
year: '2025'
...