Surface contact electrification experiments have been performed on insulating polyester fibres in contact with a conductive fibre using biased atomic force microscopy tips. With positive tip bias, charge spots have been deposited in a reproducible manner. The density of deposited charges on the fibre surface was observed by Kelvin probe force microscopy as a function of time, charging position and relative humidity. Two main charge dissipation mechanisms were identified with different importance depending on the relative humidity value.
Yin, J., & Nysten, B. (2018). Contact electrification and charge decay on polyester fibres: A KPFM study. Journal of Electrostatics, 96(16-22), 16-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elstat.2018.09.002 (Original work published 2018)