Influence of shape effect on dynamic surface charge transport mechanism of cellular electret after corona discharge

Surface charge accumulation and transport on cellular polypropylene play an important role in nanogenerators, which could have a potential impact on energy harvesting and wearable devices for zero carbon energy systems and the internet of things. Different shapes have different charge accumulation and decay characteristics of the polymer. Therefore, we studied the influence of the sample’s shape on the surface charge decay by experiment and modeling. The surface potential of square and circular cellular polypropylene was measured by a two-dimensional surface potential measurement system with electrostatic capacitive probe. The experimental result shows that the surface potential distribution of the square sample dissipates non-uniformly from the bell shape to a one-sided collapsed shape, while that of the circular sample dissipates uniformly from the bell shape to the crater-like shape. Moreover, the simulated results of the initial surface potential distributions of the square and circular cellular polypropylene are consistent with the experimental results. The investigation demonstrates that the charge transport process is correlated with the shape of the sample, which provides significant reference for designing electret material used for highly efficient nanogenerators.