Splay-induced charging of ferroelectric droplets in highly non-uniform electric fields

Abstract: Ferroelectric sessile droplets on a superhydrophobic surface can be put into motion by highly non-uniform electric fields, in a direction that depends on the field sign. This indicates that droplets carry a non-vanishing electrostatic charge, which we interpret as acquired through contact electrification at the interface with the superhydrophobic substrate. This phenomenon is not observed in the presence of a uniform or quasi-uniform electric field, suggesting that droplets charging is favored in highly nonuniform fields able to induce localized distortions of the ferroelectric polarization, in turn producing localized charge accumulation sites. Electrostatic charging is thus understood as a splay-induced contact electrification and interpreted as a strategy to minimize the accumulated charge. Electrophoretic-like motion is observed in about 30% of the experiments, meaning that splay-induced charging requires the proper combination of conditions such as droplets size, distance from the field source, freshness of the substrate coating and other experimental details that are not easily quantified. When charging does not occur, effects related to droplet polarization such as dielectrophoresis, ejection of polarized fluid jets and electrostriction-like deformations are observed.