1989 Volume 58 Issue 6 Pages 965-974
This paper describes the electrification on the free surface of low-density polyethylene film due to the lateral motion of charges emitted from the edge of an evaporated silver electrode-The potential distribution on the film surface adjacent to the electrode edge was measured by scanning a probe of electrostatic voltmeter coupled with a computer after the removal of an applied voltage. When a negative voltage was applied to the electrode a region of much wider spread of charges was observed in an atomosphere of nitrogen gas than in air or a mixture of oxgen (20%) and nitrogen (80%) gas. This suggests that the lateral motion of electrons emitted from the electrode is strongly limitted by oxgen molecules absorbed in the surface layer of the film which act as traps. The lateral motion of electrons in the nitrogen atomosphere is con-trolled by an external and space charge fields, and not by diffusion.
