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Nature Materials 7, 429–430 (1 June 2008) | doi:10.1038/nmat2188

Electrochemistry: Electrons create a reaction

Toribio F. Otero

Insulators can become charged by contact electrification — a phenomenon that was realized many thousands of years ago when sparks were observed on rubbing amber with wool. This generation of charge, from the contact of two different insulators, is more specifically known as the triboelectric effect, and, in more recent times, an ordered series has been established making it possible to predict which materials will become positively and negatively charged as a result of the contact process.