---
OA_type: closed access
_id: '21765'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: "Dielectric particles of the same material exchange electrical charge during
    collisions or sliding contacts, yet the underlying charge-exchange mechanism is
    still not understood. The fact that particles can become highly charged as a result
    of this effect has significant consequences for many settings, both in nature
    and industry, such as thunderstorms, volcanic eruptions, particle aggregation
    during meteorite and planet formation, and the clogging of industrial granular
    systems. Toward understanding these systems, great efforts have been made to develop
    precise in situ measurements for particle charge, e.g., to determine ensemble
    charge distributions or measure exchange during individual contacts. Here, we
    present experimental results concerning the particle size scaling of the stationary-state
    charge distributions of oxide particles in the sub-millimeter range. We measure
    the charge distributions for large ensembles of monodisperse ZrO2:SiO2 composite
    spheres, ranging from 172 to 545µ⁢m in diameter. These distributions are non-Gaussian
    and collapse to a single master curve when plotted as functions of the surface
    charge density Σ=\U0001D45E/4⁢\U0001D70B⁢\U0001D4452. X-ray fluorescence and atomic
    force microscopy measurements show that the differences in the measured charge
    distributions are not due to variations in chemical composition or surface roughness,
    but rather to size alone. Our findings provide constraints on microscopic models
    for charge exchange, namely that they should lead to steady-state distributions
    that are non-Gaussian and scale in a specific way with particle size."
acknowledgement: This research was supported by ANID Grants QUIMAL No. 160001, FONDECYT
  No. 1221597, and FONDEQUIP No. EQM190177. The authors thank Rodrigo Espinoza for
  the EDS-SEM measurements and Domingo Jullian for fruitful discussions. We also acknowledge
  the technical assistance of Ricardo Silva and Andrés Espinosa at DFI, FCFM, Universidad
  de Chile.
article_number: '045604'
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Macarena
  full_name: Lara, Macarena
  last_name: Lara
- first_name: Marcos
  full_name: Flores, Marcos
  last_name: Flores
- first_name: Gustavo
  full_name: Castillo, Gustavo
  last_name: Castillo
- first_name: Santiago
  full_name: Tassara, Santiago
  last_name: Tassara
- first_name: Scott R
  full_name: Waitukaitis, Scott R
  id: 3A1FFC16-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
  last_name: Waitukaitis
  orcid: 0000-0002-2299-3176
- first_name: Nicolás
  full_name: Mujica, Nicolás
  last_name: Mujica
citation:
  ama: Lara M, Flores M, Castillo G, Tassara S, Waitukaitis SR, Mujica N. Particle
    size scaling of non-Gaussian granular charge distributions. <i>Physical Review
    Materials</i>. 2026;10(4). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/qw6t-xqdw">10.1103/qw6t-xqdw</a>
  apa: Lara, M., Flores, M., Castillo, G., Tassara, S., Waitukaitis, S. R., &#38;
    Mujica, N. (2026). Particle size scaling of non-Gaussian granular charge distributions.
    <i>Physical Review Materials</i>. American Physical Society. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/qw6t-xqdw">https://doi.org/10.1103/qw6t-xqdw</a>
  chicago: Lara, Macarena, Marcos Flores, Gustavo Castillo, Santiago Tassara, Scott
    R Waitukaitis, and Nicolás Mujica. “Particle Size Scaling of Non-Gaussian Granular
    Charge Distributions.” <i>Physical Review Materials</i>. American Physical Society,
    2026. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/qw6t-xqdw">https://doi.org/10.1103/qw6t-xqdw</a>.
  ieee: M. Lara, M. Flores, G. Castillo, S. Tassara, S. R. Waitukaitis, and N. Mujica,
    “Particle size scaling of non-Gaussian granular charge distributions,” <i>Physical
    Review Materials</i>, vol. 10, no. 4. American Physical Society, 2026.
  ista: Lara M, Flores M, Castillo G, Tassara S, Waitukaitis SR, Mujica N. 2026. Particle
    size scaling of non-Gaussian granular charge distributions. Physical Review Materials.
    10(4), 045604.
  mla: Lara, Macarena, et al. “Particle Size Scaling of Non-Gaussian Granular Charge
    Distributions.” <i>Physical Review Materials</i>, vol. 10, no. 4, 045604, American
    Physical Society, 2026, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1103/qw6t-xqdw">10.1103/qw6t-xqdw</a>.
  short: M. Lara, M. Flores, G. Castillo, S. Tassara, S.R. Waitukaitis, N. Mujica,
    Physical Review Materials 10 (2026).
date_created: 2026-04-26T22:01:47Z
date_published: 2026-04-01T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-04-28T07:13:56Z
day: '01'
department:
- _id: ScWa
doi: 10.1103/qw6t-xqdw
intvolume: '        10'
issue: '4'
language:
- iso: eng
month: '04'
oa_version: None
publication: Physical Review Materials
publication_identifier:
  eissn:
  - 2475-9953
publication_status: published
publisher: American Physical Society
quality_controlled: '1'
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
title: Particle size scaling of non-Gaussian granular charge distributions
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
volume: 10
year: '2026'
...