The analysis of electrification in windblown sand

•We present a contact electrification model of high-energy trapped holes.•The charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles is predicted.•The predicted results agree well with our experiments.•The impacting velocity and the particle size are two important factors.•The number of collisions also affects the charge-to-mass ratio.

Based on asymmetric contact, we present a contact electrification model of high-energy trapped holes which considered the plastic deformation of the contact process in a single normal collision to predict the contact electrification and the charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles. Furthermore, the contact electrification was measured using a charge collection method. Our results show that the charged species trapped in high-energy states of sand particles are positive holes, the predicted results agree well with our experiments qualitatively and quantitatively, the impacting velocity and the particle size are two important factors affecting the magnitude of the charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles, and the number of collisions also affects the charge-to-mass ratio of sand particles.