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Title: Which species carry charge between contacting insulators
Plain: When two insulators touch, charge moves between them, even though insulators have no free electrons. Experiments support electrons, ions such as hydroxide from adsorbed water, or torn-off bits of material, depending on the system.
Precise: For polymer-polymer, polymer-oxide and identical-material contacts, with surface charge densities up to about $8\,\mathrm{statC}/\mathrm{cm}^2$ (the air-breakdown limit), determine the fraction of transferred charge carried by electrons, ions ($\mathrm{H}+$, $\mathrm{OH}-$, other) and transferred material. Identification must be chemical or spectroscopic (x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, isotope labeling) with a closed charge balance. An answer is a quantified carrier partition for a set of benchmark pairs.
Settled by: An experiment in which the transferred charge equals, within error, the chemically identified transferred species for each benchmark pair.
Kind: well-posed
Answer type: identification
References: (empty)
Literature status: contested
Status note: (empty)
Posed since: (empty)