IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-49914-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Robust structural superlubricity under gigapascal pressures

Author

Listed:
  • Taotao Sun

    (Tsinghua University
    China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited
    China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited)

  • Enlai Gao

    (Wuhan University)

  • Xiangzheng Jia

    (Wuhan University)

  • Jinbo Bian

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Zhou Wang

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Ming Ma

    (Tsinghua University)

  • Quanshui Zheng

    (Tsinghua University
    Tsinghua University
    Research Institute of Tsinghua University in Shenzhen)

  • Zhiping Xu

    (Tsinghua University)

Abstract

Structural superlubricity (SSL) is a state of contact with no wear and ultralow friction. SSL has been characterized at contact with van der Waals (vdW) layered materials, while its stability under extreme loading conditions has not been assessed. By designing both self-mated and non-self-mated vdW contacts with materials chosen for their high strengths, we report outstanding robustness of SSL under very high pressures in experiments. The incommensurate self-mated vdW contact between graphite interfaces can maintain the state of SSL under a pressure no lower than 9.45 GPa, and the non-self-mated vdW contact between a tungsten tip and graphite substrate remains stable up to 3.74 GPa. Beyond this critical pressure, wear is activated, signaling the breakdown of vdW contacts and SSL. This unexpectedly strong pressure-resistance and wear-free feature of SSL breaks down the picture of progressive wear. Atomistic simulations show that lattice destruction at the vdW contact by pressure-assisted bonding triggers wear through shear-induced tearing of the single-atomic layers. The correlation between the breakdown pressure and material properties shows that the bulk modulus and the first ionization energy are the most relevant factors, indicating the combined structural and electronic effects. Impressively, the breakdown pressures defined by the SSL interface could even exceed the strength of materials in contact, demonstrating the robustness of SSL. These findings offer a fundamental understanding of wear at the vdW contacts and guide the design of SSL-enabled applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Taotao Sun & Enlai Gao & Xiangzheng Jia & Jinbo Bian & Zhou Wang & Ming Ma & Quanshui Zheng & Zhiping Xu, 2024. "Robust structural superlubricity under gigapascal pressures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49914-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49914-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49914-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-49914-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shu-Wei Liu & Hua-Ping Wang & Qiang Xu & Tian-Bao Ma & Gui Yu & Chenhui Zhang & Dechao Geng & Zhiwei Yu & Shengguang Zhang & Wenzhong Wang & Yuan-Zhong Hu & Hui Wang & Jianbin Luo, 2017. "Robust microscale superlubricity under high contact pressure enabled by graphene-coated microsphere," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-8, April.
    2. Oded Hod & Ernst Meyer & Quanshui Zheng & Michael Urbakh, 2018. "Structural superlubricity and ultralow friction across the length scales," Nature, Nature, vol. 563(7732), pages 485-492, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dhanola, Anil & Khanna, Navneet & Gajrani, Kishor Kumar, 2022. "A critical review on liquid superlubricitive technology for attaining ultra-low friction," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    2. Xuanyu Huang & Tengfei Li & Jin Wang & Kai Xia & Zipei Tan & Deli Peng & Xiaojian Xiang & Bin Liu & Ming Ma & Quanshui Zheng, 2023. "Robust microscale structural superlubricity between graphite and nanostructured surface," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Li Chen & Cong Lin & Diwei Shi & Xuanyu Huang & Quanshui Zheng & Jinhui Nie & Ming Ma, 2023. "Fully automatic transfer and measurement system for structural superlubric materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    4. Yan Sun & Shuting Xu & Zheqi Xu & Jiamin Tian & Mengmeng Bai & Zhiying Qi & Yue Niu & Hein Htet Aung & Xiaolu Xiong & Junfeng Han & Cuicui Lu & Jianbo Yin & Sheng Wang & Qing Chen & Reshef Tenne & All, 2022. "Mesoscopic sliding ferroelectricity enabled photovoltaic random access memory for material-level artificial vision system," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Eric Cereceda-López & Alexander P. Antonov & Artem Ryabov & Philipp Maass & Pietro Tierno, 2023. "Overcrowding induces fast colloidal solitons in a slowly rotating potential landscape," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Zhengyu Xu & Jiajun Lu & Di Lu & Yiran Li & Hai Lei & Bin Chen & Wenfei Li & Bin Xue & Yi Cao & Wei Wang, 2024. "Rapidly damping hydrogels engineered through molecular friction," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Kuichang Zuo & Xiang Zhang & Xiaochuan Huang & Eliezer F. Oliveira & Hua Guo & Tianshu Zhai & Weipeng Wang & Pedro J. J. Alvarez & Menachem Elimelech & Pulickel M. Ajayan & Jun Lou & Qilin Li, 2022. "Ultrahigh resistance of hexagonal boron nitride to mineral scale formation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Gus Greenwood & Jin Myung Kim & Shahriar Muhammad Nahid & Yeageun Lee & Amin Hajarian & SungWoo Nam & Rosa M. Espinosa-Marzal, 2023. "Dynamically tuning friction at the graphene interface using the field effect," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    9. Yajie Hu & Hongyun Ma & Mingmao Wu & Tengyu Lin & Houze Yao & Feng Liu & Huhu Cheng & Liangti Qu, 2022. "A reconfigurable and magnetically responsive assembly for dynamic solar steam generation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49914-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.