Synthesis of hollow fullerene-like molybdenum disulfide/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposites with excellent lubricating properties

Abstract

In this paper, bubble-on-plate structure is realized on hollow IF-MoS2/reduced graphene oxide (HIF-MoS2/RGO) nanocomposites. HIF-MoS2 nanocages templated with the generated ammonia (NH3) are connected to RGO through the interlayered MoS2. The as-prepared HIF-MoS2/RGO is added into an ionic grease to study the tribological behavior of HIF-MoS2/RGO. For comparison, commercial grade MoS2 nanoparticles, single RGO or HIF-MoS2 or their physical mixture are also studied. Tribological results show that, compared with other additives, HIF-MoS2/RGO nanocomposites have the best anti-wear properties especially under higher load of 3.0 GPa. The wear reduction of HIF-MoS2/RGO reinforced grease under 2.5 GPa and 3.0 GPa reached 67% and 96%, respectively. In addition, HIF-MoS2/RGO reinforced grease achieves much lower and stable friction coefficient (0.079, the value of neat grease is 0.098) under 3.0 GPa. HIF-MoS2/RGO reinforced grease maintains very low friction coefficient and wear up to 4.1 GPa, while the normal MoS2 and RGO show high wear at the pressure up to 3.0 GPa. It is proposed that HIF-MoS2 nanocages on RGO act as rolling balls during friction resulting in better separation of steels.