Decision trees within 1D/2D material systems for enabling highly lubricious and wear resistant surfaces

Abstract

Energy losses, premature failure, and environmental degradation are the adverse impacts of the friction at sliding interfaces. Two-dimensional (2D) materials have recently attracted immense interest as solid lubricants. Here we develop a novel ternary nanocomposite overcoat comprising multi-layer graphene (MGr), MoS2 and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) which entangle each other, generate ensembles of trio, alter the sliding interfaces and thereby exceptionally reduce the friction (80%–85 %) and wear of diverse surfaces including metals (stainless steel (SS) 304, SS316L, mild steel (MS), Al-composite), ceramics (glass and Al2O3+TiC composite), and semiconductor (silicon). Extensive spectroscopic and microscopic characterizations are performed to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms for friction and wear reduction. The comprehensive investigation clearly confirms that the tribological efficacy of our ternary nanocomposite overcoat surpasses the monolithic and binary nanocomposite overcoats made of same materials. This discovery opens new avenues to control sliding interfaces with nanocomposites of 1D/2D materials, and can transform many moving mechanical technologies.