From a tiny electric jolt when touching a doorknob to styrofoam peanuts that cling to a mischievous cat's fur -- the well-known and seemingly simple phenomenon of static electricity has puzzled people ...

Static electricity affects everyday life in familiar ways—the shock from touching a doorknob, a balloon sticking to a child’s ...

A recent breakthrough in photothermal actuator design has been achieved by a research team from the Hefei Institutes of ...

The work could be a step toward understanding the effects behind the phenomenon of static electricity, in which electric charge accumulates on materials after they are rubbed or touched together.