Reversible and controllable reduction in friction of atomically thin two-dimensional materials through high-stress pre-rubbing

Great efforts have been made to further reduce friction of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials as solid lubricants due to their exceptional tribological properties and mechanical strength. In this work, the friction of atomically thin graphene is extensively and controllably reduced throu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2024-11, Vol.15 (1), p.9897-8, Article 9897
Main Authors: Su, Haoyang, Zhang, Honglin, Sun, Junhui, Lang, Haojie, Zou, Kun, Peng, Yitian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
142/136
639/166/988
639/301/357/1018
Adhesion
Adhesive strength
Charge materials
Charge transfer
Coefficient of friction
Contact stresses
Controllability
Density functional theory
Friction
Friction reduction
Graphene
Humanities and Social Sciences
Lubricants
Mechanical properties
multidisciplinary
Rubbing
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Solid lubricants
Tribology
Two dimensional materials
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Summary:Great efforts have been made to further reduce friction of atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials as solid lubricants due to their exceptional tribological properties and mechanical strength. In this work, the friction of atomically thin graphene is extensively and controllably reduced through pre-rubbing under high stress, resulting in a reduction of the friction coefficient by up to a factor of six compared to the pristine graphene. Also, this reduction can be reversed by reciprocating friction under moderate stress. Furthermore, high-stress pre-rubbing allows for patterning intentionally lubricating features on atomically thin graphene, such as nanometer-sized letters. This reduction in friction is attributed to the decreased sliding potential barrier yet increased contact stiffness, induced by the enhanced strength of graphene adhesion to the substrate due to interfacial charge transfer, as revealed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. These findings present a practical methodology for optimizing and controlling the performance of 2D materials. This manuscript presents a method for reversible and controllable friction reduction in two-dimensional materials through high-stress pre-rubbing, driven by enhanced graphene adhesion strength to the substrate via interfacial charge transfer.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-54363-2