DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Oil-Soluble Polymer Brush Grafted Nanoparticles as Effective Lubricant Additives for Friction and Wear Reduction

Abstract

The development of high performance lubricants has been driven by increasingly growing industrial demands and environmental concerns. Here we demonstrate oil-soluble polymer brush-grafted inorganic nanoparticles (hairy NPs) as highly effective lubricant additives for friction and wear reduction. A series of oil-miscible poly(lauryl methacrylate) brush-grafted silica and titania NPs were synthesized by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. These hairy NPs showed exceptional stability in polyalphaolefin (PAO) base oil; no change in transparency was observed after being kept at -20, 22, and 100 °C for at least 55 days. High contact stress ball-on-flat reciprocating sliding tribological tests at 100 °C showed that addition of 1 wt% of hairy NPs into PAO led to significant reductions in coefficient of friction (up to ~ 40%) and wear volume (up to ~ 90%). The excellent lubricating properties of hairy NPs were further elucidated by the characterization of the tribofilm formed on the flat. These hairy NPs represent a new type of lubricating oil additives with high efficiency in friction and wear reduction.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V); USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1279408
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1400981; OSTI ID: 1430643
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC05-00OR22725; EE0006925
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Angewandte Chemie (International Edition); Journal Volume: 55; Journal Issue: 30; Journal ID: ISSN 1433-7851
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; friction reduction; lubricant additives; nanoparticles; polymer brushes; polymerization; Lubricant additive, friction reduction, wear reduction, hairy nanoparticles

Citation Formats

Wright, Roger A. E., Wang, Kewei, Qu, Jun, and Zhao, Bin. Oil-Soluble Polymer Brush Grafted Nanoparticles as Effective Lubricant Additives for Friction and Wear Reduction. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1002/anie.201603663.
Wright, Roger A. E., Wang, Kewei, Qu, Jun, & Zhao, Bin. Oil-Soluble Polymer Brush Grafted Nanoparticles as Effective Lubricant Additives for Friction and Wear Reduction. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201603663
Wright, Roger A. E., Wang, Kewei, Qu, Jun, and Zhao, Bin. Mon . "Oil-Soluble Polymer Brush Grafted Nanoparticles as Effective Lubricant Additives for Friction and Wear Reduction". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201603663. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1279408.
@article{osti_1279408,
title = {Oil-Soluble Polymer Brush Grafted Nanoparticles as Effective Lubricant Additives for Friction and Wear Reduction},
author = {Wright, Roger A. E. and Wang, Kewei and Qu, Jun and Zhao, Bin},
abstractNote = {The development of high performance lubricants has been driven by increasingly growing industrial demands and environmental concerns. Here we demonstrate oil-soluble polymer brush-grafted inorganic nanoparticles (hairy NPs) as highly effective lubricant additives for friction and wear reduction. A series of oil-miscible poly(lauryl methacrylate) brush-grafted silica and titania NPs were synthesized by surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization. These hairy NPs showed exceptional stability in polyalphaolefin (PAO) base oil; no change in transparency was observed after being kept at -20, 22, and 100 °C for at least 55 days. High contact stress ball-on-flat reciprocating sliding tribological tests at 100 °C showed that addition of 1 wt% of hairy NPs into PAO led to significant reductions in coefficient of friction (up to ~ 40%) and wear volume (up to ~ 90%). The excellent lubricating properties of hairy NPs were further elucidated by the characterization of the tribofilm formed on the flat. These hairy NPs represent a new type of lubricating oil additives with high efficiency in friction and wear reduction.},
doi = {10.1002/anie.201603663},
journal = {Angewandte Chemie (International Edition)},
number = 30,
volume = 55,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 82 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Hairy Polyelectrolyte Brushes-Grafted Thermosensitive Microgels as Artificial Synovial Fluid for Simultaneous Biomimetic Lubrication and Arthritis Treatment
journal, October 2014

  • Liu, Guoqiang; Liu, Zhilu; Li, Na
  • ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 6, Issue 22
  • DOI: 10.1021/am506026e

Lubrication with Oil-Compatible Polymer Brushes
journal, January 2012


Performance and anti-wear mechanism of CaCO3 nanoparticles as a green additive in poly-alpha-olefin
journal, July 2009


Review of the lubrication of metallic surfaces by zinc dialkyl-dithiophosphates
journal, January 2005


Controlled Synthesis of Polymer Brushes by “Living” Free Radical Polymerization Techniques
journal, March 1999

  • Husseman, Marc; Malmström, Eva E.; McNamara, Molly
  • Macromolecules, Vol. 32, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1021/ma981290v

Polymer Brushes via Surface-Initiated Controlled Radical Polymerization: Synthesis, Characterization, Properties, and Applications
journal, November 2009

  • Barbey, Raphael; Lavanant, Laurent; Paripovic, Dusko
  • Chemical Reviews, Vol. 109, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1021/cr900045a

Antiwear Performance and Mechanism of an Oil-Miscible Ionic Liquid as a Lubricant Additive
journal, February 2012

  • Qu, Jun; Bansal, Dinesh G.; Yu, Bo
  • ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 4, Issue 2, p. 997-1002
  • DOI: 10.1021/am201646k

Experimental analysis of tribological properties of lubricating oils with nanoparticle additives
journal, March 2007


Boundary lubrication under water
journal, November 2006

  • Briscoe, Wuge H.; Titmuss, Simon; Tiberg, Fredrik
  • Nature, Vol. 444, Issue 7116
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature05196

Mixed Polymer Brush-Grafted Particles: A New Class of Environmentally Responsive Nanostructured Materials
journal, December 2009


Synthesis of Nanocomposite Organic/Inorganic Hybrid Materials Using Controlled/“Living” Radical Polymerization
journal, October 2001

  • Pyun, Jeffrey; Matyjaszewski, Krzysztof
  • Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 13, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1021/cm011065j

A study of the anti-wear and friction-reducing properties of the lubricant additive, nanometer zinc borate
journal, May 1998


Fabrication of Ordered Arrays of Gold Nanoparticles Coated with High-Density Polymer Brushes
journal, June 2003

  • Ohno, Kohji; Koh, Kyoungmoo; Tsujii, Yoshinobu
  • Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 42, Issue 24
  • DOI: 10.1002/anie.200250850

Study of friction reduction by nanocopper additives to motor oil
journal, January 2002


Tribological behavior of nano TiO2 as an additive in base oil
journal, April 2013


The History and Mechanisms of ZDDP
journal, October 2004


Friction and wear properties of a surface-modified TiO2 nanoparticle as an additive in liquid paraffin
journal, December 1997


Nanoscale Organic−Inorganic Hybrid Lubricants
journal, March 2011


Tribological properties of lubricant additives of Fe, Cu and Co nanoparticles
journal, April 2013


Environmentally Responsive “Hairy” Nanoparticles:  Mixed Homopolymer Brushes on Silica Nanoparticles Synthesized by Living Radical Polymerization Techniques
journal, May 2005

  • Li, Dejin; Sheng, Xia; Zhao, Bin
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 127, Issue 17
  • DOI: 10.1021/ja0422561

Preparation of Ni Nanoparticles and Evaluation of Their Tribological Performance as Potential Additives in Oils
journal, October 1999

  • Qiu, Sunqing; Zhou, Zhongrong; Dong, Junxiu
  • Journal of Tribology, Vol. 123, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1115/1.1286152

Detecting the onset of localized scuffing in a pin-on-twin fuel-lubricated test for heavy-duty diesel fuel injectors
journal, February 2005

  • Qu, J.; Truhan, J. J.; Blau, P. J.
  • International Journal of Engine Research, Vol. 6, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1243/146808705X7356

Tribochemistry and antiwear mechanism of organic–inorganic nanoparticles as lubricant additives
journal, April 2006


Bioinspired Bottle-Brush Polymer Exhibits Low Friction and Amontons-like Behavior
journal, April 2014

  • Banquy, Xavier; Burdyńska, Joanna; Lee, Dong Woog
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 136, Issue 17
  • DOI: 10.1021/ja501770y

Synergistic Effects Between Phosphonium-Alkylphosphate Ionic Liquids and Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) as Lubricant Additives
journal, July 2015

  • Qu, Jun; Barnhill, William C.; Luo, Huimin
  • Advanced Materials, Vol. 27, Issue 32
  • DOI: 10.1002/adma.201502037

The tribological behaviour of ZnO nanoparticles as an additive to PAO6
journal, August 2006


Lubrication Mechanism of Concentrated Polymer Brushes in Solvents: Effect of Solvent Quality and Thereby Swelling State
journal, June 2011

  • Nomura, Akihiro; Okayasu, Kenji; Ohno, Kohji
  • Macromolecules, Vol. 44, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1021/ma200340d

Nanostructure and Composition of Tribo-Boundary Films Formed in Ionic Liquid Lubrication
journal, May 2011


Characterization and antiwear ability of non-coated ZnS nanoparticles and DDP-coated ZnS nanoparticles
journal, January 2001


Slow Release of Fullerene-like WS 2 Nanoparticles from Fe−Ni Graphite Matrix:  A Self-Lubricating Nanocomposite
journal, March 2001

  • Rapoport, L.; Lvovsky, M.; Lapsker, I.
  • Nano Letters, Vol. 1, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1021/nl005516v

Ionic Liquids Composed of Phosphonium Cations and Organophosphate, Carboxylate, and Sulfonate Anions as Lubricant Antiwear Additives
journal, October 2014

  • Zhou, Yan; Dyck, Jeffrey; Graham, Todd W.
  • Langmuir, Vol. 30, Issue 44
  • DOI: 10.1021/la5032366

Tribology of surface-grafted polymer brushes
journal, January 2016

  • Mocny, Piotr; Klok, Harm-Anton
  • Molecular Systems Design & Engineering, Vol. 1, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1039/C5ME00010F

Works referencing / citing this record:

Material‐Dependent Antagonistic Effects between Soot and ZDDP
journal, February 2020

  • Kumara, Chanaka; Meyer, Harry M.; Qu, Jun
  • Advanced Materials Interfaces, Vol. 7, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1002/admi.201901956

Facile synthesis of photoluminescent inorganic–organic hybrid carbon dots codoped with B and N: towards an efficient lubrication additive
journal, January 2017

  • Zhang, Yunxiao; Cai, Tao; Shang, Wangji
  • Dalton Transactions, Vol. 46, Issue 36
  • DOI: 10.1039/c7dt02389h

Impact of Fuel Contents on Tribological Performance of PAO Base Oil and ZDDP
journal, September 2018


Continuous Flow Fabrication of Block Copolymer–Grafted Silica Micro‐Particles in Environmentally Friendly Water/Ethanol Media
journal, October 2018

  • Ye, Piaoran; Cao, Peng‐Fei; Chen, Qiyi
  • Macromolecular Materials and Engineering, Vol. 304, Issue 2
  • DOI: 10.1002/mame.201800451

Gold nanoparticle distribution in polyelectrolyte brushes loaded at different pH conditions
journal, October 2018

  • Boyaciyan, Dikran; Braun, Larissa; Löhmann, Oliver
  • The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 149, Issue 16
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.5035554

Dispersion of Nanoparticles in Lubricating Oil: A Critical Review
journal, January 2019


Tribological characteristic and mechanism analysis of borate ester as a lubricant additive in different base oils
journal, January 2017

  • Yang, Guangbin; Zhao, Junhua; Cui, Lu
  • RSC Advances, Vol. 7, Issue 13
  • DOI: 10.1039/c6ra26896j