Universal Antistatic Behaviour of Lignin

In general, once two different objects are brought into contact and then separated, one object develops a net negative charge, while the other develops equal amount of positive charge. Depending on the nature of the contacting materials, the amount of the generated charge varies; and the tendencies of the materials to become positive or negative upon contacting, are ranked in ‘triboelectric series’. In the middle of the list, wood is stated as a material that do not show tendency to behave either way. Such an stillness attracts scientists who are hunting for antistatic additives for common polymers for various applications in many industries including space, pharmaceuticals, electronics, plastics manufacturing and robotics. Since the destabilization of accumulated charges on the material surfaces are found to be guided by antioxidants1,2, lignin becomes a strong candidate which is the only antioxidant among the three main compounds present in the wood content. The unique antistatic nature of wood which is attributed to its lignin content and the antistatic action of lignin which is related to its radical scavenging action was recently studied in a recent report3. In this work a deeper inner look towards the relation between the bond-breaking mechanism of contact electrification and the antistatic action of lignin will be presented.



 

1Baytekin, H. T., Baytekin, B., Hermans, T. M., Kowalczyk, B., Grzybowski, B. A. (2013). Control of Surface charges by radicals as a principle of antistatic polymers protecting electronic circuitry. Science, vol. 34, 1368-1371. 

2Baytekin, B., Baytekin, H. T., & Grzybowski, B. A. (2012). What really drives chemical reactions on contact charged surfaces? Journal of the American Chemical Society, 134(17), 7223-7226. 

3Ozel, M., Demir, F., Aikebaier, A., Yigitbası, J., Baytekin, H.T., Baytekin, B. (2020). Why does wood not get contact charged? Lignin as an antistatic additive for common polymers. Chemistry of Materials.  32, 17, 7438–7444.