Scientific Achievement
A new type of graphene/silicon nitride bilayer overcoat (3-4 nm thick) reduces microscale friction and wear on flat surfaces relevant to mechanical systems; simulations reveal the underlying atomistic mechanism.
Significance and Impact
Small improvements in friction and wear can greatly impact energy savings in diverse applications from magnetic storage systems, and micro- and nanoelectromechanical systems to moving machine components.
Research Details
- The origin of the reduced wear and friction was determined by atomic emission spectroscopy, ion mass spectrometry, and Raman spectroscopy by Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) users from National University of Singapore, and supported by atomistic simulations (molecular dynamics) performed at CNM.
Work was performed, in part, at CNM.
About Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials
The Center for Nanoscale Materials is one of the five DOE Nanoscale Science Research Centers, premier national user facilities for interdisciplinary research at the nanoscale supported by the DOE Office of Science. Together the NSRCs comprise a suite of complementary facilities that provide researchers with state-of-the-art capabilities to fabricate, process, characterize and model nanoscale materials, and constitute the largest infrastructure investment of the National Nanotechnology Initiative. The NSRCs are located at DOE’s Argonne, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories. For more information about the DOE NSRCs, please visit https://science.osti.gov/User-Facilities/User-Facilities-at-a-Glance.
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://energy.gov/science.