Phys.org November 17, 2021
Low-friction interfaces in 2D materials are often attributed to van der Waals (vdW) bonding of 2D materials, and nanoscale and quantum confinement effects can also act to modify the atomic interactions of a 2D material producing unique interfacial properties. An international team of researchers (Canada, USA – Rice University) has demonstrated low-friction behavior of magnetene, a non-vdW 2D material obtained via the exfoliation of magnetite, showing statistically similar friction to benchmark vdW 2D materials. They found that this low friction is due to 2D confinement effects of minimized potential energy surface corrugation, lowered valence states reducing surface adsorbates, and forbidden low-damping phonon modes, all of which contribute to producing a low-friction 2D material. The findings offer new information for designing ultra-low-friction materials which might be useful as lubricants in small-scale applications, including implantable devices…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE
This schematic shows the lattice structure of magnetene, with the dark red spheres depicting iron and the lighter red ones depicting oxygen. Credit: Shwetank Yadav / University of Toronto Engineering