{"user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","volume":638,"doi":"10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6","article_type":"original","tmp":{"name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","image":"/images/cc_by.png","short":"CC BY (4.0)"},"scopus_import":"1","external_id":{"pmid":["39972227"]},"OA_type":"hybrid","day":"20","date_updated":"2025-04-14T07:54:10Z","publisher":"Springer Nature","_id":"19278","status":"public","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"ec_funded":1,"publication_status":"published","quality_controlled":"1","month":"02","corr_author":"1","citation":{"ista":"Sobarzo Ponce JCA, Pertl F, Balazs D, Costanzo T, Sauer M, Foelske A, Ostermann M, Pichler CM, Wang Y, Nagata Y, Bonn M, Waitukaitis SR. 2025. Spontaneous ordering of identical materials into a triboelectric series. Nature. 638(8051), 664–669.","apa":"Sobarzo Ponce, J. C. A., Pertl, F., Balazs, D., Costanzo, T., Sauer, M., Foelske, A., … Waitukaitis, S. R. (2025). Spontaneous ordering of identical materials into a triboelectric series. <i>Nature</i>. Springer Nature. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6</a>","short":"J.C.A. Sobarzo Ponce, F. Pertl, D. Balazs, T. Costanzo, M. Sauer, A. Foelske, M. Ostermann, C.M. Pichler, Y. Wang, Y. Nagata, M. Bonn, S.R. Waitukaitis, Nature 638 (2025).","chicago":"Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A, Felix Pertl, Daniel Balazs, Tommaso Costanzo, Markus Sauer, Annette Foelske, Markus Ostermann, et al. “Spontaneous Ordering of Identical Materials into a Triboelectric Series.” <i>Nature</i>. Springer Nature, 2025. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6\">https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6</a>.","mla":"Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A., et al. “Spontaneous Ordering of Identical Materials into a Triboelectric Series.” <i>Nature</i>, vol. 638, no. 8051, 664–669, Springer Nature, 2025, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6\">10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6</a>.","ieee":"J. C. A. Sobarzo Ponce <i>et al.</i>, “Spontaneous ordering of identical materials into a triboelectric series,” <i>Nature</i>, vol. 638, no. 8051. Springer Nature, 2025.","ama":"Sobarzo Ponce JCA, Pertl F, Balazs D, et al. Spontaneous ordering of identical materials into a triboelectric series. <i>Nature</i>. 2025;638(8051). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6\">10.1038/s41586-024-08530-6</a>"},"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"When two insulating, neutral materials are contacted and separated, they exchange electrical charge1. Experiments have long suggested that this ‘contact electrification’ is transitive, with different materials ordering into ‘triboelectric series’ based on the sign of charge acquired2. At the same time, the effect is plagued by unpredictability, preventing consensus on the mechanism and casting doubt on the rhyme and reason that series imply3. Here we expose an unanticipated connection between the unpredictability and order in contact electrification: nominally identical materials initially exchange charge randomly and intransitively, but—over repeated experiments—order into triboelectric series. We find that this evolution is driven by the act of contact itself—samples with more contacts in their history charge negatively to ones with fewer contacts. Capturing this ‘contact bias’ in a minimal model, we recreate both the initial randomness and ultimate order in numerical simulations and use it experimentally to force the appearance of a triboelectric series of our choosing. With a set of surface-sensitive techniques to search for the underlying alterations contact creates, we only find evidence of nanoscale morphological changes, pointing to a mechanism strongly coupled with mechanics. Our results highlight the centrality of contact history in contact electrification and suggest that focusing on the unpredictability that has long plagued the effect may hold the key to understanding it."}],"file":[{"file_size":3807415,"date_updated":"2025-03-04T10:05:18Z","access_level":"open_access","relation":"main_file","file_name":"2025_Nature_Sobarzo.pdf","file_id":"19289","checksum":"fecf302274dd3218d3e7dd22f39a6c0c","date_created":"2025-03-04T10:05:18Z","creator":"dernst","content_type":"application/pdf","success":1}],"department":[{"_id":"ScWa"},{"_id":"LifeSc"},{"_id":"EM-Fac"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","date_created":"2025-03-02T23:01:52Z","oa_version":"Published Version","OA_place":"publisher","project":[{"_id":"0aa60e99-070f-11eb-9043-a6de6bdc3afa","grant_number":"949120","name":"Tribocharge: a multi-scale approach to an enduring problem in physics","call_identifier":"H2020"}],"title":"Spontaneous ordering of identical materials into a triboelectric series","date_published":"2025-02-20T00:00:00Z","file_date_updated":"2025-03-04T10:05:18Z","oa":1,"type":"journal_article","pmid":1,"ddc":["530"],"intvolume":"       638","author":[{"full_name":"Sobarzo Ponce, Juan Carlos A","id":"4B807D68-AE37-11E9-AC72-31CAE5697425","first_name":"Juan Carlos A","last_name":"Sobarzo Ponce"},{"full_name":"Pertl, Felix","orcid":"0000-0003-0463-5794","last_name":"Pertl","first_name":"Felix","id":"6313aec0-15b2-11ec-abd3-ed67d16139af"},{"full_name":"Balazs, Daniel","id":"302BADF6-85FC-11EA-9E3B-B9493DDC885E","last_name":"Balazs","orcid":"0000-0001-7597-043X","first_name":"Daniel"},{"full_name":"Costanzo, Tommaso","first_name":"Tommaso","last_name":"Costanzo","orcid":"0000-0001-9732-3815","id":"D93824F4-D9BA-11E9-BB12-F207E6697425"},{"first_name":"Markus","last_name":"Sauer","full_name":"Sauer, Markus"},{"full_name":"Foelske, Annette","last_name":"Foelske","first_name":"Annette"},{"full_name":"Ostermann, Markus","last_name":"Ostermann","first_name":"Markus"},{"first_name":"Christian M.","last_name":"Pichler","full_name":"Pichler, Christian M."},{"full_name":"Wang, Yongkang","last_name":"Wang","first_name":"Yongkang"},{"full_name":"Nagata, Yuki","last_name":"Nagata","first_name":"Yuki"},{"first_name":"Mischa","last_name":"Bonn","full_name":"Bonn, Mischa"},{"id":"3A1FFC16-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Scott R","last_name":"Waitukaitis","orcid":"0000-0002-2299-3176","full_name":"Waitukaitis, Scott R"}],"publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1476-4687"],"issn":["0028-0836"]},"issue":"8051","article_processing_charge":"Yes (via OA deal)","publication":"Nature","year":"2025","article_number":"664-669","acknowledgement":"This project has received financing from the European Research Council grant agreement no. 949120 under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The Analytical Instrumentation Center of the TU Wien acknowledges support by the FFG project ‘ELSA’ under grant no. 884672. C.M.P. and M.O. acknowledge the state of Lower Austria and the European Regional Development Fund under grant no. WST3-F-542638/004-2021. This research was supported by the Scientific Service Units of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria through resources provided by the Miba Machine Shop, Nanofabrication Facility, Scientific Computing facility, Electron Microscopy Facility and Lab Support Facility. We thank J. Garcia-Suarez and G. Anciaux for the suggestion to look into the roughness power spectral density. We thank I.-M. Strugaru for help with testing the device for Young’s modulus measurements. Open access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology (IST Austria).","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"M-Shop"},{"_id":"NanoFab"},{"_id":"ScienComp"},{"_id":"EM-Fac"},{"_id":"LifeSc"}]}