Solvothermal preparation and tribological performance of g‐C 3 N 4 /TiO 2 hybrids as oil‐based lubricant additives

Abstract

TiO2 nanospheres wrapped by graphene-like g-C3N4 nanosheets were fabricated through the one-pot solvothermal process and applied as lubricant additives in paraffin base oil to characterise the tribology performances. Moreover, g-C3N4/TiO2 composites were investigated by different characterisation methods such as X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy, indicating the formation of g-C3N4/TiO2 composites. Subsequently, the friction experiment of the resulting samples using g-C3N4/TiO2 hybrids as additives in base oil were tested by a multispecimen friction and wear tester (UMT-2), which indicate g-C3N4/TiO2 composites possessed excellent tribological property including significantly reduced frictional coefficient and wear rate as an oil additive, owing to the presence of a thin physical lubricating film on the surface of the matrix.