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Friction 2024, 12(3): 428-438 https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0736-8
Research Article | Open Access | Issue | Published: 04 December 2023

Photoinduced superlubricity on TiO2 surfaces

Show Author's Information Ke HAN,  Liran MA( ),  Yu TIAN( ),  Jianbin LUO
State Key Laboratory of Tribology in Advanced Equipment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Keywords:
superlubricity, titanium dioxide (TiO2), light control friction, glycerol
Cite this article:
HAN K, MA L, TIAN Y, et al. Photoinduced superlubricity on TiO2 surfaces. Friction, 2024, 12(3): 428-438. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-023-0736-8
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Abstract Full text About this article

Superlubricity control is of great interest in both industry and scientific research, and several methods have been proposed to achieve this goal. In this work, ultraviolet (UV) light was introduced into titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) tribosystems to accomplish photoinduced superlubricity. The friction coefficients (COFs) between Si3N4 balls and TiO2 plates in the mixtures of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) solution and glycerol solution were obviously reduced, and the system entered the superlubricity region (COF < 0.01) after UV illumination at a speed of 56 mm/s. However, the COF was much larger without UV treatment than that with UV treatment. The formation of silica (SiO2) layers on the surfaces of Si3N4 balls and the elastohydrodynamic effects were determined to be fundamental to the low friction in this experiment, and the enhancement of the combination between the TiO2 surface and the hydroxy group of glycerol by UV illumination was the key to the photoinduced superlubricity in this system. These findings showed one method for achieving superlubricity by introducing a light field that could be further applied to special working conditions.


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About this article

Photoinduced superlubricity on TiO2 surfaces

Show Author's information Ke HAN, Liran MA( ), Yu TIAN( ), Jianbin LUO
State Key Laboratory of Tribology in Advanced Equipment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Abstract

Superlubricity control is of great interest in both industry and scientific research, and several methods have been proposed to achieve this goal. In this work, ultraviolet (UV) light was introduced into titanium dioxide (TiO2) and silicon nitride (Si3N4) tribosystems to accomplish photoinduced superlubricity. The friction coefficients (COFs) between Si3N4 balls and TiO2 plates in the mixtures of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) solution and glycerol solution were obviously reduced, and the system entered the superlubricity region (COF < 0.01) after UV illumination at a speed of 56 mm/s. However, the COF was much larger without UV treatment than that with UV treatment. The formation of silica (SiO2) layers on the surfaces of Si3N4 balls and the elastohydrodynamic effects were determined to be fundamental to the low friction in this experiment, and the enhancement of the combination between the TiO2 surface and the hydroxy group of glycerol by UV illumination was the key to the photoinduced superlubricity in this system. These findings showed one method for achieving superlubricity by introducing a light field that could be further applied to special working conditions.

Keywords: superlubricity, titanium dioxide (TiO2), light control friction, glycerol

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Publication history
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Publication history

Received: 16 September 2022
Revised: 28 October 2022
Accepted: 27 December 2022
Published: 04 December 2023
Issue date: March 2024

Copyright

© The author(s) 2022.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51922058).

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