Shining Light on Triboelectric Phenomena

In this issue of Matter, two independent papers (Liu et al. and Hao et al.) describe tunable materials interfaces that convert mechanical and light energy to electricity via a novel “photo-tribo-electric” effect. In this issue of Matter, two independent papers (Liu et al. and Hao et al.) explore the nonlinear transformation of energy via a tunable materials interface via the combination of mechanical friction and light, i.e., a novel “photo-tribo-electric” effect.