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)
High contact pressure and shear during relative movement of the sliding interfaces are known to cause structural or chemical modification or complete phase transformation due to the stress induced chemical reaction. Such reactions can manifest either formation of tribofilm or induce enhanced wear at the tribological interface. The nature of these stress-induced reactions at the atomistic level and formation of byproducts at the tribological interface, however, remain poorly understood and pose uncertainties in predicting the tribological performance of the tribosystem. In this paper we demonstrate that, when pristine molybdenum disulfide layers in their two dimensional form are coupled with nanodiamonds, the catalytic interaction of sulfur with the nanodiamond through a stress-induced tribocatalytic reaction under high pressure and shear conditions induces amorphization of nanodiamond and eventually formation of onion like carbon structures (OLCs). This leads to near-zero friction, superlubricity, when sliding against diamond like carbon (DLC) ball in dry nitrogen environment at room temperature. Furthermore, the large size (20-30 nm in diameter) and stiffness of the resulting OLCS allow sustaining high contact pressures, while graphitic lattice provides an incommensurate contact with the DLC surface, thus allowing for successful demonstration of the superlubricity conditions.
- 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
Similar Records
Macroscale superlubricity by a sacrificial carbon nanotube coating
Tribocatalytically-activated formation of protective friction and wear reducing carbon coatings from alkane environment