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In this study, a novel lubricant additive nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dot (N-CQD) nanoparticle was prepared by the solvothermal method. The synthesized spherical N-CQD nanoparticles in the diameter of about 10 nm had a graphene oxide (GO)-like structure with various oxygen (O)- and nitrogen (N)-containing functional groups. Then N-CQDs were added to MoS2 nanofluid, and the tribological properties for steel/steel friction pairs were evaluated using a pin-on-disk tribometer. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations for the friction system with MoS2 or MoS2 + N-CQD nanoparticles were also conducted. The results showed that friction processes with MoS2 + N-CQD nanofluids were under the mixed lubrication regime. And MoS2 nanofluid containing 0.4 wt% N-CQDs could achieve 30.4% and 31.0% reduction in the friction coefficient and wear rate, respectively, compared to those without N-CQDs. By analyzing the worn surface topography and chemical compositions, the excellent lubrication performance resulted from the formation of tribochemistry-induced tribofilm. The average thickness of tribofilm was about 13.9 nm, and it was composed of amorphous substances, ultrafine crystalline nanoparticles, and self-lubricating FeSO4/Fe2(SO4)3. NEMD simulation results indicated the interaction between S atoms in MoS2 as well as these O- and N-containing functional groups in N-CQDs with steel surfaces enhanced the stability and strength of tribofilm. Thereby the metal surface was further protected from friction and wear.


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Synthesis of N-doped carbon quantum dots as lubricant additive to enhance the tribological behavior of MoS2 nanofluid

Show Author's information Jiaqi HE1,2Jianlin SUN1( )Junho CHOI2Chenglong WANG1Daoxin SU1
School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan

Abstract

In this study, a novel lubricant additive nitrogen-doped carbon quantum dot (N-CQD) nanoparticle was prepared by the solvothermal method. The synthesized spherical N-CQD nanoparticles in the diameter of about 10 nm had a graphene oxide (GO)-like structure with various oxygen (O)- and nitrogen (N)-containing functional groups. Then N-CQDs were added to MoS2 nanofluid, and the tribological properties for steel/steel friction pairs were evaluated using a pin-on-disk tribometer. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations for the friction system with MoS2 or MoS2 + N-CQD nanoparticles were also conducted. The results showed that friction processes with MoS2 + N-CQD nanofluids were under the mixed lubrication regime. And MoS2 nanofluid containing 0.4 wt% N-CQDs could achieve 30.4% and 31.0% reduction in the friction coefficient and wear rate, respectively, compared to those without N-CQDs. By analyzing the worn surface topography and chemical compositions, the excellent lubrication performance resulted from the formation of tribochemistry-induced tribofilm. The average thickness of tribofilm was about 13.9 nm, and it was composed of amorphous substances, ultrafine crystalline nanoparticles, and self-lubricating FeSO4/Fe2(SO4)3. NEMD simulation results indicated the interaction between S atoms in MoS2 as well as these O- and N-containing functional groups in N-CQDs with steel surfaces enhanced the stability and strength of tribofilm. Thereby the metal surface was further protected from friction and wear.

Keywords: lubricant, tribofilm, nanofluid, carbon-based quantum dots (CQDs), molecular dynamics (MD)

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Publication history

Received: 12 November 2021
Revised: 24 December 2021
Accepted: 08 March 2022
Published: 04 July 2022
Issue date: March 2023

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© The author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51874036) and Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation (No. 2182041).

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