Unctuous ZrO2 nanoparticles with improved functional attributes as lubricant additives

One of the main drawbacks in the application of metal-oxide nanoparticles as lubricant additives is their poor stability in organic media, despite the good anti-wear, friction-reducing and high-load capacity properties described for these materials. In this work, we present a novel procedure to chem...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nanotechnology 2017-12, Vol.28 (49), p.495704-495704
Main Authors: Casado, Jorge Espina, González, Alfonso Fernández, Huerga, Ángel José del Reguero, Rodríguez-Solla, Humberto, Díaz-García, Marta Elena, Badía-Laíño, Rosana
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
dispersion stability
lubricant oil
nanolubricants
nanoparticles
surface functionalization
tribological properties
ZrO
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:One of the main drawbacks in the application of metal-oxide nanoparticles as lubricant additives is their poor stability in organic media, despite the good anti-wear, friction-reducing and high-load capacity properties described for these materials. In this work, we present a novel procedure to chemically cap the surface of ZrO2 nanoparticles (ZrO2NPs) with long hydrocarbon chains in order to obtain stable dispersions of ZrO2NPs in non-aqueous media without disrupting their attributes as lubricant additives. C-8, C-10 and C-16 saturated flexible chains were attached to the ZrO2NP surface and their physical and chemical characterization was performed by transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. The dispersion stability of the modified ZrO2NPs in non-aqueous media was studied using static multiple light scattering. Tribological tests demonstrated that dispersions of the long-chain capped ZrO2NPs in base lubricating oils exhibited low friction coefficients and improved the anti-wear properties of the base oil when compared with the raw lubricating oil.
ISSN:0957-4484
1361-6528
DOI:10.1088/1361-6528/aa93ca