Within triboelectric physics and mechanical energy harvesting research, contact electrification and electrostatic induction coupling mechanisms govern energy conversion. When mechanical deformations act upon aerogels with three-dimensional porous networks, internal pore-wall contact and dynamic friction generate triboelectric charges at nanoscale interfaces. Investigating charge collection and triboelectric charge localized potential well trapping mechanisms induced by skeletal deformation clarifies porous media electromechanical energy conversion physics.

The generation and storage of triboelectric charges represent non-equilibrium surface electron transfer and localization processes. When aerogel backbones undergo bending, compression, or friction under mechanical loads, atomic orbitals at contacting interfaces experience wavefunction overlap, driving quantum electron transitions across interfacial potential barriers.

However, the capability of aerogels to sustain triboelectric charge output relies on the presence of localized potential wells across their nanoporous surfaces.

These localized potential wells originate from structural defects, deep-level electron trapping centers, or chemical heterogeneities on amorphous skeletal surfaces. When transferred triboelectric charges enter these deep wells—whose potential depths exceed thermal noise energies—charges remain bound within local spaces, resisting surface diffusion or thermal escape.

During mechanical deformation recovery, the elastic response of the three-dimensional porous network induces micro-displacements that drive free electron flow via electrostatic induction. Constructing statistical mechanics models incorporating localized potential well energy distributions and contact dynamics describes the generation, trapping, relaxation, and collection of deformation-induced triboelectric charges within nanoporous networks. This elucidates the electromechanical coupling physics of porous media.