IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v425y2003i6954d10.1038_nature01970.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Lubrication by charged polymers

Author

Listed:
  • Uri Raviv

    (Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • Suzanne Giasson

    (University of Montreal
    CERSIM, Laval University)

  • Nir Kampf

    (Weizmann Institute of Science)

  • Jean-François Gohy

    (University of Liège)

  • Robert Jérôme

    (University of Liège)

  • Jacob Klein

    (Weizmann Institute of Science
    Oxford University)

Abstract

Long-ranged forces between surfaces in a liquid control effects from colloid stability1 to biolubrication2, and can be modified either by steric factors due to flexible polymers3, or by surface charge effects4. In particular, neutral polymer ‘brushes’ may lead to a massive reduction in sliding friction between the surfaces to which they are attached5,6,7, whereas hydrated ions can act as extremely efficient lubricants between sliding charged surfaces8. Here we show that brushes of charged polymers (polyelectrolytes) attached to surfaces rubbing across an aqueous medium result in superior lubrication compared to other polymeric surfactants. Effective friction coefficients with polyelectrolyte brushes in water are lower than about 0.0006–0.001 even at low sliding velocities and at pressures of up to several atmospheres (typical of those in living systems). We attribute this to the exceptional resistance to mutual interpenetration displayed by the compressed, counterion-swollen brushes, together with the fluidity of the hydration layers surrounding the charged, rubbing polymer segments. Our findings may have implications for biolubrication effects, which are important in the design of lubricated surfaces in artificial implants, and in understanding frictional processes in biological systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Uri Raviv & Suzanne Giasson & Nir Kampf & Jean-François Gohy & Robert Jérôme & Jacob Klein, 2003. "Lubrication by charged polymers," Nature, Nature, vol. 425(6954), pages 163-165, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:425:y:2003:i:6954:d:10.1038_nature01970
    DOI: 10.1038/nature01970
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature01970
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature01970?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    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).

    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:nature:v:425:y:2003:i:6954:d:10.1038_nature01970. 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.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using 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.