Operando tribochemical formation of onion-like-carbon leads to macroscale superlubricity
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of North Texas, Denton, TX (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Stress-induced reactions at the sliding interface during relative movement are known to cause structural or chemical modifications in contacting materials. The nature of these modifications at the atomic level and formation of byproducts in an oil-free environment, however, remain poorly understood and pose uncertainties in predicting the tribological performance of the complete tribosystem. Here, we demonstrate that tribochemical reactions occur even in dry conditions when hydrogenated diamond-like carbon (H-DLC) surface is slid against two-dimensional (2D) molybdenum disulfide along with nanodiamonds in dry nitrogen atmosphere. Detailed experimental studies coupled with reactive molecular dynamics simulations reveal that at high contact pressures, diffusion of sulfur from the dissociated molybdenum disulfide led to amorphization of nanodiamond and subsequent transformation to onion-like carbon structures (OLCs). The in situ formation of OLCs at the sliding interface provide reduced contact area as well as incommensurate contact with respect to the H-DLC surface, thus enabling successful demonstration of superlubricity.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357; AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 1460812
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1490201
- Journal Information:
- Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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