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Friction 2023, 11(9): 1641-1659 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0672-z
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 14 April 2023

Comparative study on boundary lubrication of Ti3C2Tx MXene and graphene oxide in water

Show Author's Information Wei SUN1,  Qingrui SONG1,  Kun LIU1,  Qing ZHANG2,  Zhensheng TAO2,  Jiaxin YE1( )
Institute of Tribology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
Keywords:
boundary lubrication, graphene oxide, adsorption film, Mxene, water-based lubricant additives
Cite this article:
SUN W, SONG Q, LIU K, et al. Comparative study on boundary lubrication of Ti3C2Tx MXene and graphene oxide in water. Friction, 2023, 11(9): 1641-1659. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-022-0672-z
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Abstract Full text About this article

The emerging use of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials as boundary lubricants in water offers numerous benefits over oil-based lubricants; whereas the friction reduction varies significantly with nanomaterial type, size, loading, morphology, etc. Graphene oxide (GO) and Ti3C2Tx MXene, a relatively new 2D material, are investigated as boundary lubricants in water in this study. The contact pair mainly includes Si3N4 balls and Si wafer. The results found (1) monodispersed GO offers better lubricity than monodispersed MXene under identical concentration and testing conditions; and (2) the mixed dispersion of GO and MXene (0.1 mg/ml: 0.1 mg/ml) produced the lowest friction coefficient of ~ 0.021, a value 4× and 10× lower than that produced by comparable mono-dispersions of GO or MXene, respectively. Wear track analysis, focused ion beam microscopy, in-situ contact observation, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization suggest (1) GO nanoflakes have higher adhesion than MXene and are more easily adsorbed on the tribopairs’ surfaces, and (2) GO/MXene tribofilm has a layered nanostructure constituting GO, MXene, amorphous carbon, and TiO2. We further hypothesized that the high lubricity of GO/MXene results from the synergy of GO’s high adhesiveness, MXene’s load support ability, and the low shear strength of both constituents. The present study highlights the key role of tribofilm stability in water-based boundary lubrication using state-of-the-art 2D nanomaterials.


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About this article

Comparative study on boundary lubrication of Ti3C2Tx MXene and graphene oxide in water

Show Author's information Wei SUN1, Qingrui SONG1, Kun LIU1, Qing ZHANG2, Zhensheng TAO2, Jiaxin YE1( )
Institute of Tribology, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei 230009, China
Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China

Abstract

The emerging use of two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials as boundary lubricants in water offers numerous benefits over oil-based lubricants; whereas the friction reduction varies significantly with nanomaterial type, size, loading, morphology, etc. Graphene oxide (GO) and Ti3C2Tx MXene, a relatively new 2D material, are investigated as boundary lubricants in water in this study. The contact pair mainly includes Si3N4 balls and Si wafer. The results found (1) monodispersed GO offers better lubricity than monodispersed MXene under identical concentration and testing conditions; and (2) the mixed dispersion of GO and MXene (0.1 mg/ml: 0.1 mg/ml) produced the lowest friction coefficient of ~ 0.021, a value 4× and 10× lower than that produced by comparable mono-dispersions of GO or MXene, respectively. Wear track analysis, focused ion beam microscopy, in-situ contact observation, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) characterization suggest (1) GO nanoflakes have higher adhesion than MXene and are more easily adsorbed on the tribopairs’ surfaces, and (2) GO/MXene tribofilm has a layered nanostructure constituting GO, MXene, amorphous carbon, and TiO2. We further hypothesized that the high lubricity of GO/MXene results from the synergy of GO’s high adhesiveness, MXene’s load support ability, and the low shear strength of both constituents. The present study highlights the key role of tribofilm stability in water-based boundary lubrication using state-of-the-art 2D nanomaterials.

Keywords: boundary lubrication, graphene oxide, adsorption film, Mxene, water-based lubricant additives

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Publication history

Received: 25 March 2022
Revised: 09 June 2022
Accepted: 30 June 2022
Published: 14 April 2023
Issue date: September 2023

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© The author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51875153, 51875152, and 51975174) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JZ2021HGPA0062). We also gratefully thank Zheng Chen (Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences) and their colleagues for the help in sample preparation using focused ion beam (FIB).

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