Corona charging of polymers: Recent advances on constant current charging

This paper contains a brief overview on the recent developments of corona charging of polymers, with emphasis on the constant current corona triode. This latter method, which has been successfully applied to several types of polymer, is a legacy from Prof. Bernhard Gross' work in Sao Carlos, Brazil. Following a short introduction to corona charging, the experimental setups are described, especially with regard to the advantages in the constant current method. A few examples are given of the use of the constant current corona triode in the investigation of electrical properties of nonpolar and ferroelectric polymers. The application of corona charging to pole nonlinear optic (NLO) polymers is discussed, including the perspectives for the constant current charging method for the NLO field.