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Nano Research 2023, 16(1): 583-588 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4641-7
Research Article | Issue | Published: 04 July 2022

Electric field controlled superlubricity of fullerene-based host–guest assembly

Show Author's Information Shanchao Tan1,2,§,  Hongyu Shi1,2,§,  Xin Du3,§,  Kunpeng Wang1,  Haijun Xu3,  Junhua Wan4,  Ke Deng2( ),  Qingdao Zeng2,5( ),  Yuhong Liu1( )
State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), Beijing 100190, China
College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Key Lab of Biomass-based Green Fuels and Chemicals, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectonics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

§ Shanchao Tan, Hongyu Shi, and Xin Du contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
superlubricity, electric field, friction control, fullerene derivative, host–guest assembly
Topics:
Surface structure
Cite this article:
Tan S, Shi H, Du X, et al. Electric field controlled superlubricity of fullerene-based host–guest assembly. Nano Research, 2023, 16(1): 583-588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4641-7
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Controlling friction by the electric field is a promising way to improve the tribological performance of a variety of movable mechanical systems. In this work, the assembly structure and microscale superlubricity of a host–guest assembly are effectively controlled by the electric field. With the help of the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) technique, the host–guest assembly structures constructed by the co-assembly of fullerene derivative (Fluorene-C60) with macrocycles (4B2A and 3B2A) are explicitly characterized. Combined with density functional theory (DFT), the distinct different assembly behaviors of fullerene derivatives are revealed at different probe biases, which is attributed to the molecular polarity of the fullerene derivative. Through the control on the adsorption behavior, the friction coefficient of host–guest assembly is demonstrated to be controllable in the electric field by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). At positive probe bias, the friction coefficient of the host–guest assembly is significantly reduced and achieves superlubricity (μmin = 0.0049). The efforts not only help us gain insight into the host–guest assembly mechanism controlled by the electric field, but also promote the further application of fullerene in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).


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About this article

Electric field controlled superlubricity of fullerene-based host–guest assembly

Show Author's information Shanchao Tan1,2,§, Hongyu Shi1,2,§, Xin Du3,§, Kunpeng Wang1, Haijun Xu3, Junhua Wan4, Ke Deng2( ), Qingdao Zeng2,5( ), Yuhong Liu1( )
State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
CAS Key Laboratory of Standardization and Measurement for Nanotechnology, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), Beijing 100190, China
College of Chemical Engineering, Jiangsu Key Lab of Biomass-based Green Fuels and Chemicals, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology of Ministry of Education, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 310012, China
Center of Materials Science and Optoelectonics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

§ Shanchao Tan, Hongyu Shi, and Xin Du contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Controlling friction by the electric field is a promising way to improve the tribological performance of a variety of movable mechanical systems. In this work, the assembly structure and microscale superlubricity of a host–guest assembly are effectively controlled by the electric field. With the help of the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) technique, the host–guest assembly structures constructed by the co-assembly of fullerene derivative (Fluorene-C60) with macrocycles (4B2A and 3B2A) are explicitly characterized. Combined with density functional theory (DFT), the distinct different assembly behaviors of fullerene derivatives are revealed at different probe biases, which is attributed to the molecular polarity of the fullerene derivative. Through the control on the adsorption behavior, the friction coefficient of host–guest assembly is demonstrated to be controllable in the electric field by using atomic force microscopy (AFM). At positive probe bias, the friction coefficient of the host–guest assembly is significantly reduced and achieves superlubricity (μmin = 0.0049). The efforts not only help us gain insight into the host–guest assembly mechanism controlled by the electric field, but also promote the further application of fullerene in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS).

Keywords: superlubricity, electric field, friction control, fullerene derivative, host–guest assembly

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 13 April 2022
Revised: 01 June 2022
Accepted: 08 June 2022
Published: 04 July 2022
Issue date: January 2023

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2017YFA0205000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51875303 and 21972031), and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB36000000).

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