ERC DynaMo - Dynamic charging at Moving contact lines

Grant duration: 5 years
Grant starting date: January 2021

Water drops sliding over e.g. a hydrophobic surface can lead to surface charging and thus to charging up of the droplet itself. In contrast to the widely studied field of charging caused by friction we study the largely unexplored slide electrification. The charging effects are by and large non equilibrium effects and depend essentially on microscopic and nanoscopic processes at the so called three phase contact line between solid surface, liquid, and air. Our goal is to understand these effects from the fundamental side and to explore the potential of slide electrification for technical use.